Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the “collective West” of “provoking internal conflicts and trying to unleash a color revolution in Georgia” while speaking at the 20th meeting of the heads of security and intelligence services of the CIS member states. At the same meeting the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, said that the Georgian authorities “have faced another attempt at a color revolution, that is, a coup d’état’.”
Georgia’s sixth President will be elected on December 14, as decided on November 26 at the Parliament’s plenary session, with the exclusive participation of the Georgian Dream MPs, with 80 votes in favor and none against. The inauguration of the new President will take place on December 29. The new President will be elected for a term of five years and by a 300-member electoral college.
Public Defender, Levan Ioseliani, who attended yesterday’s first session of the new Parliament, claims that it was convened legitimately. Thirty-four members of his office issued a statement rebuking this stance. “We regret that the Public Defender is involved in such a process, which violates the constitutional-legal order and damages the trust in the Public Defender’s Office as an independent constitutional body” reads the statement of the staff of the Public Defender’s Office.
On November 26, Sopo Japaridze, the leader of the Tbilisi organization of the opposition coalition Unity-National Movement, told journalists that the Unity-UNM Coalition had appealed to the Central Election Commission (CEC) to revoke the coalition’s party list with an official letter signed by the coalition’s leader, Tina Bokuchava. Unity-UNM is the third opposition force to officially request the CEC to withdraw its lists, after the coalition Strong Georgia and the Coalition for Change.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) revoked the party lists of the Coalition for Change, the Coalition Strong Georgia, and the Unity-UNM following their appeals. However, the CEC says that the revocation of the party lists was a decision made following the Electoral Code and does not mean that the commission shares the coalitions’ “unfounded” assessment of the elections, saying that this assessment “stems from a political agenda and doesn’t reflect reality.”
Giorgi Gakharia, the leader of the “Gakharia for Georgia” party held a briefing, labeling the first session of the Parliament as completely “illegitimate.” He also said that it would be followed by the “illegitimate” government approval and the presidential elections, further calling on the Western partners not to attend the President’s inauguration. For more updates on post-election developments, visit our Live Blog: Georgia’s Disputed October Elections.
Maka Botchorishvili, Georgia’s newly nominated candidate for Foreign Affairs Minister, has outlined her vision for the country’s foreign policy at the joint hearing of the parliamentary committees, claiming that Georgia will be ready to join the EU by 2030. She also noted the importance of resetting relations with Georgia’s strategic partner, the U.S. According to the Foreign Minister-designate, “the dialogue cannot be a language of ultimatums” and “constructive approaches to all critical issues need to be sought between the partners.”
The National Bank of Georgia (NGB) sold a record USD 591 million of its reserves in October, according to the latest official data. Of this amount, USD 213.4 million was sold at the foreign exchange (FX) auction, while USD 377.7 million was the intervention amount on the Bmatch platform. The NBG previously stated that its interventions aimed to reduce the impact of non-fundamental factors and the typical market volatility that often occurs during the pre-election period.
Spartak Lekiashvili, a 25-year-old Georgian fighter, died after prolonged treatment for serious injuries sustained during the Russian bombing of Bakhmut, Ukraine, on May 10, 2023. This latest casualty brings the unofficial death toll of Georgian citizens fighting in Ukraine to 61.