The President of Georgia was suspected of being “destructive”: she went to Europe again without permission

Political scientist Nika Chitadze explained why Salome Zurabishvili irritates the ruling party so much

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has again come under sharp criticism from the ruling party. This time the occasion was her intention to take part in the Munich Conference. The chairman of the Georgian Dream, Irakli Garibashvili, accused her of betraying Georgians, and the new head of the country’s Ministry of Defense, Irakli Chikovani, called her actions “devastating.” The expert is convinced: the country’s authorities have declared war on free thought.

Scandals regarding the trips of Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili have not subsided over the past year. It got to the point that the Georgian Dream party decided to impeach the head of state, but he failed during the vote in parliament. Last October, only 86 deputies out of at least 100 required voted to resign.

Zurabishvili herself is not going to retreat and plans to go on a foreign trip again without the approval of the government. This time to Germany.

“At the Munich Security Conference, the world’s leading forum for discussing international security issues, the President of Georgia will speak on the panel “A Deeper, Wider and More Capable European Union” and will participate in the discussion: “Ensuring the Readiness of NATO’s Eastern Flank,” – the presidential administration said in a statement.

Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Garibashvili said the president had committed “betrayal in the eyes of every member” of the party. According to him, she does not serve the state and repeatedly violates the Constitution: “It’s a shame when a woman who grew up in Europe behaves this way, and the president who was brought to power by the founder of our party (Bidzina Ivanishvili – editor’s note).”

Later, the country’s new defense minister, Irakli Chikovani, joined the accusations: “I am sure that Salome Zurabishvili received instructions to be completely destructive in relation to any processes that should take place in our country in 2024.” He explained that the president may try to discredit the elections and “clearly intends to create a pseudo-centrist political force.”

Georgian political scientist Nika Chitadze spoke about Zurabishvili’s conflict with the ruling MK party:

– The Georgian Dream party believes that Salome Zurabishvili is indebted to former Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili, since allegedly thanks to his support she became president.

They are convinced that now Zarubishvili must play by their rules, despite the fact that she swore an oath to Georgia and its citizens.

– Are they so afraid of Zurabishvili that they constantly criticize her?

– Yes, their idea that the president is in their debt is only one of the reasons for these attacks. Of course, the Georgian Dream considers it unacceptable that Zurabishvili uses the international platform, including the Munich Conference. Thus, in one of her reports, she called Ivanishvili a “Georgian oligarch” who plays a pro-Russian game and opposes the European Union. All this causes great irritation in the party.

Plus, their authority is damaged by the fact that she does not coordinate her actions with them. She makes her own decisions about various visits, which she can use to criticize the Georgian Dream.

-Can the president create a strong coalition?

– I doubt it very much. She plays her game, but will not become a political leader, including the party of Mikheil Sakaashvili. Zurabishvili has found her niche, pursues a pro-European and independent policy, but she does not have her own team. She had a party about 15 years ago, but then her rating was around 3%, which forced her to join Civic Dream.