Opposition parties that overcame the hurdles in the parliamentary elections are claiming that the presidential elections, called by the Georgian Dream party for December 14, are illegitimate and that they will not recognize the president elected through this illegal process.
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“We do not recognize the so-called presidential elections scheduled for December 14 in the so-called parliament hijacked by Ivanishvili, which has neither international nor domestic legitimacy.
The illegitimate parliament does not have the authority to elect a president. Therefore, Salome Zourabichvili remains the President of Georgia, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Georgian Defense Forces, and the country’s highest representative in foreign relations,” the Coalition for Change, Unity – National Movement, and Strong Georgia said in a statement.
A separate statement was issued by the party For Georgia, led by former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia. It emphasized that they would not participate in the illegal process of electing the president and would not recognize the actions and decisions of the de facto, illegitimate parliament, including the president elected through this illegal process.
“On one hand, the elections are being held outside the constitution, within the framework of an illegitimate parliament. On the other hand, these one-party elections fundamentally contradict the constitutional principles that require the president in a parliamentary republic to be elected in an inclusive manner and as a result of broad political consensus,” Gakharia’s party stated.
All four opposition parties believe that the only way out of the current crisis is to hold new parliamentary elections.
This year, for the first time, the president of Georgia will be elected for a five-year term by a 300-member electoral college. The Collegium includes 150 members of Parliament, 41 members from the supreme representative bodies of the autonomous republics of Abkhazia and Adjara, and the remaining 109 members are nominated by the parties from the municipal councils based on proportional support received in the most recent local self-government elections.
According to the quotas set by the Central Election Commission, the distribution of seats from the municipal councils in the Collegium is as follows: Georgian Dream - 54 members; National Movement - 36 members; Gakharia for Georgia - 9 members; Strong Georgia - 4 members; European Georgia - 2 members; Strategy Agmashenebeli - 1 member; Alliance of Patriots - 1 member; Labor Party - 1 member; Girchi – More Freedom - 1 member.
At least 30 members of the electoral college have the right to nominate a candidate for the presidency of Georgia. The candidate nominated by the Georgian Dream is former football player and MP Mikheil Kavelashvili.
In the first round of elections, a candidate who receives at least two-thirds of the votes (200 votes) from the entire electoral college is considered elected. If no candidate is elected in the first round, the candidate with the best result will proceed to the second round. The candidate who receives the most votes in the second round will be declared elected. If necessary, a second round of elections will be held on the same day.
