On December 23, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili released her video address to Georgians after a sabotaged attempt to address the crowd at a rally the day before. She emphasized the need for dialogue with the ruling party and invited the founder of Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, to the Orbeliani Palace to set the date for new elections on December 29, with the specific conditions that must be met to increase public confidence in them. She also announced the creation of a special council to prepare for the new elections.
President Zurabishvili stressed that the 25 days of protests in Georgia have continued with “wonderful mood” in the public and expressed confidence that Georgians will not be intimidated into stopping the protests.
She emphasized that the simple truth of the matter is that the elections were rigged and that trust in the authorities has been eroded. However, the struggle for justice through constitutional and judicial means has come to an end. The evidence of fraudulent elections has been presented to all possible courts, and the Constitutional Court has not even considered it The President’s Appeal. She noted that the very last resort is to appeal to the court in Strasbourg, which takes a very long time to deliver its verdict.
The crisis is deepening, the president said, and no matter how the DG ignores, even they realize it must be resolved. Zurabishvili stressed that after the ODIHR report, the Western partners “stopped expressing concern” and started taking concrete measures, which means that the “political, social, economic, financial and international” crisis has entered the phase that leaves only two ways to solve it .
She said there are two solutions out of the crisis: the first option is to hold these elections in the shortest possible time and under conditions that restore voter confidence. And to reach an agreement with the governing team that these elections will be held within the agreed time frame.
“The dialogue should be with me…as a mediator,” she said “and with those who participated in these elections – parties, observers…” On the other side, there should be Bidzina Ivanishvili and several representatives of his party, as many as he wants. , the president said, noting that even if he comes along, she is willing to meet him in that format as well.
She stressed: “We have very little time for this because this crisis is unbearable and if we came to the conclusion this week that we have to take care of this country, we have to take care of this society, calm it down and give that the key to peace, why postpone it, let’s meet this week, until the 29th. I’m ready and will accept it in any form.”
She talked about the other option: “If this compromise option, this dialogue, is not achieved, there is also a second option – we will get to the elections through the collapse of this regime, there is no other way. This regime is already collapsing. This is the alternative – either dialogue, compromise, concession or not, and this means the collapse of the regime.”
President Zurabishvili also announced the creation of a special council to prepare for the new election. She said: “A council will be set up to manage this period. The council will have one and only one mandate, which will be to prepare for new elections. A document is already being drawn up after today’s meeting (with the opposition) and will probably be ready tomorrow, which describes all the minimum conditions for holding elections very soon. Then we will work on preparing from all angles and possible directions. These new elections will really be new elections and probably new forces will appear and we must all be ready for this, says Salome Zurabishvili.
Finally, the speaker noted that there is a lot of talk about December 29, when her term as chair expires. She said some people are scaring and scaring her ahead of the day her term ends, while others are expressing their will to protect her. She emphasized that she does not need protection, that she is not afraid, that she will continue to be president after the 29th. She reiterated that no one in Georgia wanted chaos, revolution or civil war, but that everyone wanted Georgia to develop democratically and peacefully with its Western partners. “This country will go its own way in peace, have new elections and be very successful and strong,” she concluded.
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