Georgian President urges diplomatic corps to support new elections, calls for opposition unity as Gov’t halts EU accession

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Thursday declared herself as “the only legitimate institution" and urged the diplomatic corps to support the conduct of new elections and called on the opposition to take “reasonable and coordinated actions” following Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's recent announcement of a halt of European Union accession talks until 2028.

Zourabichvili, standing alongside the domestic opposition leaders boycotting the newly elected Parliament at the Orbeliani Presidential Palace, stressed “in the face of the existing challenge [alleged “rigged” parliamentary elections held last month and “illegitimacy” of the current Government], we are either united or we will not exist”.

The President further claimed she was the country’s “only legitimate representative with the authority to address the world on behalf of our society”, promising to “stand by the people to the very end”.

Earlier today, PM Irakli Kobakhidze announced the suspension of the country’s EU accession talks and refusal to receive the bloc’s budget grants until 2028, citing interest in “dignified” integration amid a “cascade of insults and blackmail by European politicians and bureaucrats” and referring to five resolutions by the European Parliament over the past three years that he claimed had been “full of lies and insults” against the Georgian Dream Government.