First woman elected president of Georgia: who is she
According to the results of 100% of votes in the elections in Georgia, the independent candidate Salome Zourabishvili became president.
Photo: video frame YouTube / UATV Russian
According to the Georgian Central Election Commission, 59,52% of voters voted for her, writes “Currently,«.
In the presidential race, Zurabishvili was supported by the ruling party Georgian Dream.
Opposition party candidate United National Movement Grigol Vashadze received 40,48% of votes.
Earlier, after the release of the exit poll results, former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili stated that he did not recognize the results of the presidential election.
In 2018, the head of state was last elected by universal, direct vote. In 2017, the country's parliament approved a new constitution, which turned Georgia into a parliamentary republic. This means that at the next election in 2024, the country's president will be appointed by an electoral college consisting of 150 members of parliament and 150 representatives of local authorities. At the same time, his powers will be significantly reduced.
From France to Georgia
Salome Zurabishvili comes from a famous Georgian family, she was born in France to a family of Georgian political émigrés and worked as a diplomat in the French Foreign Ministry for about 30 years, writes Air force.
In Georgia, Zurabishvili arrived in 2003 year, first as French ambassador to Tbilisi, but in March 2004, she became the foreign minister of Georgia in a post-revolutionary government by the decision of President Mikhail Saakashvili. Then she received Georgian citizenship, while retaining a French passport.
As foreign minister, Zurabishvili lasted just over a year. In October 2005, she was dismissed from the post of minister and moved to the opposition of Saakashvili.
Until 2010, Zurabishvili headed the opposition party “Georgia’s Way”, and then joined the UN expert group for monitoring the situation in Iran. In the 2016 parliamentary elections, Zurabishvili ran as an independent deputy in one of the majoritarian constituencies in Tbilisi - and entered parliament with the support of the ruling party.
This is not her first attempt to become president of Georgia. In 2013, she also wanted to participate in the presidential election, but she was denied registration because of her dual citizenship. This time, Zurabishvili refused French citizenship before being registered as a presidential candidate.
Russian question
One of the main achievements of Zurabishvili as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, many consider her contribution to the negotiation process and reaching an agreement on the withdrawal of Russian bases from the territory of Georgia.
Фото: Depositphotos
Despite this, already at the beginning of her election campaign, a stream of accusations of pro-Russian views fell on her because of the announcement of the August 2008 war of the year. Answering a journalist's question, she said that Russia started the war against Georgia a hundred years ago, but Georgia got involved in the Russian provocation, provoking a new round of conflict.
The statement of Salome Zurabishvili did not like both the opposition and many representatives of the ruling party. She later explained that in 2008, Russia had acted as an aggressor, but according to her, Saakashvili and his circle played into the hands of Moscow, giving a military response to Russian provocation. Russia used this as an excuse to start a war against Georgia, Zurabishvili said.
“This was a huge crime of Saakashvili and the National Movement against the Georgian people and state, and remembering this is our civic duty,” she wrote. The explanation is fully consistent with the position of the Georgian Dream - Russia was the aggressor and initiator of the war in 2008, but if not for the adventurist approach of the Saakashvili government, nothing would have worked out for Moscow.
Formal independence
Analysts say that although Zurabishvili is not among the leaders of the Georgian Dream, it is difficult to call her a completely independent candidate.
Zurabishvili has proven in recent years that she is one of the most aggressive activists of the Georgian Dream, and the assertion that the ruling party does not have its own candidate in these elections is unconvincing, says expert Gia Khukhashvili.
“The presidential institution itself does not play a special role in the sense of redistribution of power, so they [the ruling party] could throw a certain die without much risk. But, as it turned out, they were not fully prepared for this, and they tried to put on such a pseudo-democratic performance. This is very similar to a provincial performance in the village, which everyone has seen, but they go to it because there is no other entertainment in this village,” says the expert.
Despite active cooperation with the Georgian Dream, Zurabishvili is unlikely to agree with Bidzina Ivanishvili’s party on everything. “Nobody knows what will happen in the future, because Zurabishvili easily enters into conflict and confrontation with others. Therefore, in my opinion, Zurabishvili will not be a big gift for the Georgian Dream,” says Korneliy Kakachia, director of the Georgian Institute of Politics.
There was no complete agreement within the ruling party in connection with supporting Zurabishvili’s candidacy, but the decisive word was this time for the chairman of the party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Kakachiya said.
He notes that despite the fact that the presidency in Georgia does not have much influence, for both the opposition and the ruling party these elections are a dress rehearsal for the 2020 parliamentary elections.
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