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December 30, 2024

Georgia's Outgoing President Refuses to Quit as Mikheil Kavelashvili Is Inaugurated
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Georgia's outgoing President Salome Zourabichvili refused to step down
Sunday as former soccer star and Kremlin-backed conservative Mikheil
Kavelashvili took the oath of office. Zourabichvili said she would leave
the presidential palace but insisted her successor is an illegitimate
leader. Four opposition parties refused to participate in Sunday's
inaugural ceremony in Georgia's Parliament in Tblisi after denouncing
October's elections as rigged. On Sunday, there were scuffles between
police and protesters who gathered near Parliament. 

Anna Akhaladze: "Our illegitimate government is trying to appoint an
illegitimate person who does not have any background in politics,
diplomatics, economics, who does not know how to rule a country other
than maybe score a goal once or twice in a match. He was a footballer
that does not have any type of background or education, while we had a
great president who had an education, great education, studied in
France, Salome Zourabichvili. She has done so much for this country, and
even right now she's trying to get our voices heard in the West, talking
to so many diplomats and trying to take this country in a right
direction."



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