About the pressure over Saakashvili’s pardon

On December 28, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili gave a press conference after being harassed while attempting to engage with demonstrators at her official residence.

President Zourabichvili reacted angrily to pressure from the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and denounced their and the United National Movement's (UNM) political games with Saakashvili's health. She claimed that the subject is drowning out all other issues and jeopardizing Georgia's future in Europe.

"They are fighting Saakashvili now that he has already collapsed, but in 2007 they were sitting silently," Zourabichvili claimed. President Zourabichvili claimed she left her career [in France] and only cares about Georgia's European future in an apparent response to Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi, who recently stated that Zourabichvili's career would suffer greatly if Saakashvili were to be pardoned by her.

"There is no other topic, and there is no way to progress any other problem," Zourabichvili stated, adding that GD and UNM have been working together to keep everyone stuck in this discussion, debate, and conflict around Saakashvili for about a year. "Both political parties profit from this problem, which is engulfing the nation... GD and UNM are fighting against Georgia's integration into Europe without realizing that our society desires this [future]," the president stated.

Zourabichvili said she is being bullied and pressured as an institution and woman and claimed that CSOs are not providing her with enough support. When asked directly if she planned to pardon Saakashvili, the president stated, "The important question will be answered when it will be answered."

The Georgian president presents the new Central Election Commission Chairmanship

On the same day, President Salome Zourabichvili submitted new candidates for the Central Election Commission (CEC) to the legislature.

The president proposed that Giorgi Shaishmelashvili and Nanuli Bebia lead the CEC. The two applicants for the one open membership post were Rusudan Kurdiani and Tamaz Poladashvili. An open call was launched to find the candidates for the other unfilled seat.