‘Let’s see who will be leaving’: Georgia’s presidential standoff nears crunch point
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Georgian Dream government threatens pro-west president with jail if she refuses to leave office on Sunday. All eyes in Georgia are fixed on the elegant 19th-century Orbeliani Palace in Tbilisi, where a defining moment looms. Who will occupy its halls on 29 December?.
![[Pjotr Sauer]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2024/08/02/Pjotr_Sauer_.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
On Sunday, Georgia’s pro-western president, Salome Zourabichvili, is supposed to hand over the keys to her successor, Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former football player turned far-right politician who is backed by the ruling and increasingly authoritarian Georgian Dream (GD) party.
![[Supporters of Salome Zourabichvili with banners march surrounded by Christmas lights ]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9ddc736a7737816274895bc84d0650287786f81b/0_14_1920_1152/master/1920.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Zourabichvili, whose role as president is ceremonial but has made her a symbolic leader of the opposition, insists she is not stepping down and has called the GD-led government illegitimate. She recently shared a photo of the New Year’s decorations at the presidential residence, which featured a large train as part of the display. “They put a train in front of the Orbeliani Palace,” she wrote on Facebook, adding: “Let’s see who will be leaving.”.
![[Protesters gather in front of the Georgian parliament where fireworks go off]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4de9b63069826efd48b3d20d614aa6329d9ebc49/0_71_5472_3283/master/5472.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
In response, Irakli Kobakhidze, the prime minister of Georgia and the GD chair, said Zourabichvili would face legal consequences if she chose to stay in office. “Let’s see where she ends up, behind bars or outside,” he said at a press briefing in Tbilisi this week.
![[Mikheil Kavelashvili]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e589306f4166bef8f9b23a8bc0b812f87dff3dd7/0_0_4754_2854/master/4754.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The standoff has plunged the country into a political crisis, the outcome of which could shape Georgia’s trajectory for years to come as it is pulled between Russia and the west. Even for Georgia – a small nation nestled in the Caucasus mountains and with a turbulent history of swinging between democratic aspirations and periods of harsh repression – these are extraordinary times, marked by mass protests and growing uncertainty.
