San Francisco Frontiers - Georgia PM rules out re-run of contested vote

The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in an October 26 parliamentary election that the pro-European opposition said was fraudulent.

The opposition is boycotting the new parliament, while pro-EU President Salome Zurabishvili has sought to annul the election result through the country's constitutional court, declaring the new legislature and government "illegitimate".

Thousands have taken to the streets to protest alleged electoral fraud as well as the government's decision on Thursday to shelve talks on joining the European Union until 2028.

When asked whether Georgian Dream would agree to hold a new ballot, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists: "Of course not."

"The formation of the new government based on the October 26 parliamentary elections has been completed," he said.

Critics accuse Georgian Dream, in power for more than a decade, of having steered the country away from the EU in recent years and of moving closer to Russia, an accusation it denies.

Earlier this week, the party nominated far-right former football international Mikheil Kavelashvili for the largely ceremonial post of president.

Under constitutional changes pushed through by Georgian Dream in 2017, the president will for the first time be chosen by an electoral college instead of a popular vote.

But Zurabishvili told AFP in an exclusive interview on Saturday that she would not step down until last month's contested parliamentary elections are re-run.

- 'Only legitimate institution' -

Brussels has abstained from recognising the outcome of the October elections and demanded an investigation into "serious electoral irregularities".

The European Parliament adopted a resolution rejecting Georgian Dream's victory, calling for a re-run and for sanctions to be imposed on top Georgian officials, including Kobakhidze.

Zurabishvili said Saturday that she had set up a "national council" of opposition parties and civil society representatives, which would ensure "stability in this country".

Calling herself "the only legitimate institution in the country", Zurabishvili said that "as long as there are no new elections... my mandate continues".

"Nobody outside Georgia, democratic partners, nobody has recognised (October's) the elections," she added.

"I will be the representative of this legitimate, stable transition," she said.

Constitutional law experts, including one author of Georgia's constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze, told AFP that any decisions made by the new parliament -- including the nomination of Kobakhidze as prime minister and the coming presidential election -- would be invalid.

That is because parliament had approved its own credentials in violation of a legal requirement to await a court ruling on Zurabishvili's bid to annul the election results, they said.

Kobakhidze's announcement on Thursday that Georgia would not seek accession talks with the European Union until 2028 sparked a fresh wave of nationwide anti-government protests.

Thousands of people gathered in Georgia's capital Tbilisi on Saturday for a third night of protests that saw dozens arrested.

Chaotic scenes unfolded for hours as police chased defiant protesters through the streets of central Tbilisi, beating them and making arrests.

Masked officers in riot gear fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons as they moved in to disperse protesters hurling fireworks, while flames were seen coming from a window of the parliament building.

Protests were also held in numerous other cities across Georgia.

- International condemnation -

Hundreds of public servants, including from the ministries of foreign affairs, defence and education, as well as a number of judges, issued joint statements protesting Kobakhidze's decision.

More than 200 Georgian diplomats criticised the move as contradicting the constitution and leading the country "into international isolation".

A number of Georgia's ambassadors resigned, while around 100 schools and universities suspended academic activities in protest.

After the October vote, a group of Georgia's leading election monitors said they had evidence of a complex scheme of large-scale electoral fraud.

The crackdown on protests has provoked international condemnation.

The EU's new foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Sunday warned Georgian authorities over violence against demonstrators.

France, Britain, Ukraine, Poland, Sweden and Lithuania were among other countries to voice concern.

F.Edwards--SFF