Georgian opposition announces boycott of presidential elections

According to a joint statement by the Georgian opposition parties, they consider the parliamentary elections held on October 26 to be illegitimate, therefore they are boycotting the presidential elections scheduled for December 14.

The statement also emphasizes that the current President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili is the only legitimate authority in the country.

"An illegitimate parliament has no authority to elect a president, therefore Salome Zurabishvili 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 statement reads.

The opposition believes that the only way out of the current political crisis is to hold new parliamentary elections. It also demands the release of all prisoners arrested during the two-week anti-government protests.

The statement was signed by the following coalitions: Unity - National Movement, Coalition for Change and Strong Georgia. The fourth opposition group, For Georgia, led by former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, issued a separate statement in which it generally agreed with the above-mentioned theses.

Presidential elections in Georgia
The presidential elections in Georgia will be held this Saturday, December 14. The inauguration is scheduled for December 29. This year, for the first time, the president will be elected by an electoral college of 300 people.

At the moment, the only candidate is Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former football player and founder of the People's Power party. He was nominated by the ruling Georgian Dream.

The State Security Service of Georgia has warned of potential attempts of the radical opposition to disrupt the elections and cause unrest throughout the country.