Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has called on the Moscow-friendly ruling Georgian Dream party to set a date for new parliamentary elections by December 29, amid turmoil over the recent vote and the party's unilateral decision to postponed negotiations with the European Union.
Zurabishvili has been locked in a clash with the party since winning parliamentary elections in October, dominated by allegations of electoral fraud.
The opposition has refused to recognize the vote, accusing Georgian Dream of rigging the vote to take power.
In a speech late on December 22, she invited Russia-friendly billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister and founder of Georgian Dream, to the presidential palace for talks on setting an election date.
Georgian Dream has denied any wrongdoing in the election and has refused to consider new elections despite near-daily protests over its victory and its subsequent decision to suspend talks with the EU until 2028.
"Ivanishvili should come to the palace and I am ready to sit down and think about how the elections should be scheduled. The election date should be agreed by December 29," Zurabishvili told a rally in Tbilisi, the site of countless Georgian protests. .
Due to technical problems during the speech, Zurabishvili said he would release a new video message on December 23.
Georgia received EU candidate status in December last year, but ties with Brussels have been strained in recent months following the approval in May of a controversial law on "foreign agents" pushed through parliament by Georgian Dream, which has governed since 2012.
Critics say the legislation threatens media and civil society groups and mirrors a similar Russian law used by the Kremlin to stifle political opponents and civil society.
While initially endorsed by Georgian Dream for its successful presidential run in 2018, Zurabishvili has been a thorn in the side of the ruling party.
Although officially a non-partisan president limited to a ceremonial role, Zurabishvili has criticized the Georgian Dream for its increasingly authoritarian stance.
Earlier this month, an electoral college dominated by Georgian Dream chose Mikheil Kavelashvili, a 53-year-old former soccer player and right-wing populist, as Georgia's next president.
His inauguration is supposed to take place on December 29, although the 72-year-old Zurabishvili, whose term ends this year, has said she is not going anywhere.
After the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in the Oct. 26 election, protests resumed and intensified after the government said it was suspending talks with Brussels over Tbilisi's bid to join the EU, Georgia's biggest donor, the market largest economy and home to most of its diaspora.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said in its final report on the election it released on December 20 that many issues "negatively affected" the election and eroded public confidence.
The report refers to the passing of the "foreign agents" law, modeled after a similar Russian law, saying the election took place amid "serious concerns about the impact of recently passed legislation on fundamental freedoms and civil society".
The law, which requires organizations that receive significant foreign funding to register as foreign agents, came into effect on August 1, prompting significant backlash from international and domestic actors.
The government last week pledged to amend the law, although it did not give details of the changes it would approve./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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