Image by Mariam Nikuradze, used with permission.

Months of protests have gripped Georgia, inspired by widespread opposition to the newly elected government and, as of December 14, its new president. Despite mounting public pressure and international criticism, the ruling Georgian Dream government has not budged, becoming increasingly brazen against protesting Georgians and international scrutiny.

In light of ongoing protests, the authorities have introduced a set of amendments to the Administrative Offenses Code, giving more power to the police to detain protesters in the absence of due process, increased fines, and additional restrictions, to name a few. Meanwhile, the ruling government's officials are facing sanctions and harsh criticism internationally. Several of the country's ambassadors have announced their decision to resign from their posts following the ruling party's decision to suspend its EU membership bid.

The new president

The office of Georgia's president has little power and is mainly limited to representative functions, while the majority of the powers rest with the parliament and the prime minister.

On December 14, Georgia's lawmakers elected the country's next president, an ex-footballer and critic of the West, Mikheil Kavelashvili. He replaced the country's pro-Western president, Salome Zurabishvili, who had taken a more critical position against the ruling party since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Since then, she has regularly criticized the ruling party's rhetoric on the ongoing war in Ukraine and Russia's intentions.

When thousands of Georgians took to the streets to protest the government-imposed foreign agent law, President Zurabishvili sided with the people and the opposition. Her statements in the aftermath of the protests were strongly worded and critical of the ruling government. When the latter decided to restore flights with Russia, the president issued a statement condemning the decision.

President Zurabishvili's rift with the ruling government, and instead, siding with the people and the opposition groups, led to the ruling party's attempt to impeach the president. The attempt failed.

Ahead of the October 2024 election, President Zurabishvili stressed the importance of the upcoming election, describing it as a referendum between “Europe or Russia,” “past or progress,” “freedom or slavery,” “dictatorship vs. democracy.”

The newly appointed president, Mikheil Kavelashvili, is a staunch supporter of the ruling party. He was the sole candidate for the seat and one of the authors of the widely criticised foreign agent law.

Independent observers described the October vote as an unfree and unfair election and called for the vote to be redone. As such, they have also questioned the legality of the appointment of the new president. In a statement, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) said, “Any decisions made by this illegitimate Parliament, including the scheduling and holding of the presidential election, are unconstitutional and unlawful.”

The country's Constitutional Court has yet to make a final ruling on the vote results, which were also rejected by the European Parliament on November 28 in a resolution. Meanwhile, Zourabichvili vowed to stay on as president, saying that an “illegitimate parliament cannot elect the president.”

Election observers were among the protesters calling for a new election.

The official results of the October elections gave the ruling Georgian Dream party a large majority in parliament, with 54 percent of the vote — an increase from the previous 48 percent support the party received in the 2020 election. On November 28, Georgian Dream approved a slightly reshuffled government cabinet led by incumbent Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. The new government was endorsed without a single opposition member present, as the new parliament has been boycotted by all four opposition groups.

Meanwhile, to mock the ruling government's decision of the newly appointed president, a group of protesters were seen playing football outside the parliament building.

Circulating on Georgian social media pic.twitter.com/S75MoU7X9w

— Katie Shoshiashvili (@KShoshiashvili) December 14, 2024

Sanctions

In response to ongoing protests and the government's disproportionate and violent response, several countries have issued sanctions against the government's high-ranking officials.

In June 2024, the US imposed visa restrictions on an unspecified number of ruling party members, members of the parliament, law enforcement officials, private citizens, and their immediate family members. It also suspended USD 95 million in aid to the Georgian government. In September 2024, the US also said sanctions against the country's shadow leader and the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, were ready for implementation in the near future.

On December 12, 2024, US Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller said “additional action” was underway, prohibiting “visa issuance to those who are responsible for, or complicit in, undermining democracy in Georgia.” Specifically, new restrictions were to affect some “twenty individuals, including individuals serving as government ministers and in Parliament, law enforcement and security officials, and private citizens.”

On December 9, Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the UK “will immediately suspend all programme support to the Georgian government, restrict defence cooperation, and limit engagement with representatives of Georgian Dream government until there is a halt to this move away from European democratic norms and freedoms.”

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) canceled EUR 30 million (USD 33 million) in military aid and indicated that Georgia’s bid to join the bloc had been halted. On December 9, the EU ambassador to Georgia, Pawel Herczynski, said the EU would follow suit as events unfolding on the ground “clearly call for sanctions.”