The pro-Western president of Georgia, Zurabishvili, refuses to leave and is preparing for showdowns

Salome Zurabishvili’s family fled Georgia in 1921 after Soviet forces ended the country’s three-year experiment in independence from Russia.

After a century, Georgia’s pro-Western president refuses to step down, claiming it is the last legitimate institution in his country.

Her six-year term as president is due to end on Sunday. According to the new system of electing the head of state, on this day she will be replaced by the former football player of “Manchester City” Mikhail Kavelashvili, who was elected with the support of the ruling party “Georgian Dream”.

72-year-old Zurabishvili condemned her election under the electoral college system, in which he was the only candidate, as a travesty.

When she became president in 2018, she was backed by Georgian Dream, but has since denounced their controversial election victory in late October as a “Russian special operation” and backed overnight pro-EU protests outside parliament.

The government says that if she refuses to leave office, she will commit a crime.

If she is ousted, she says the ruling party’s takeover of the state will be complete and Georgia will hand over its sovereignty to a party she accuses of serving Moscow.

Salome Zurabishvili was born in France in 1952 in a well-known family of Georgian emigrants. Her grandfather, a minister in the government of briefly independent Georgia, fled to France in 1921.

Georgia, then under Soviet rule, loomed over her childhood. It was “a mythical place that only existed in books,” she said in a 2004 interview.

Despite growing up in a culturally Georgian environment, speaking the language at home and attending the Georgian Orthodox Church, she easily assimilated into French culture. She attended elite schools in France, including Sciences Po, which has traditionally been a breeding ground for the country’s top civil servants.

She distinguished herself by serving as a French diplomat for almost 30 years. But all along, her true passion remained in liberating the mysterious country of her parents’ origin from Russian influence and bringing it closer to the West.

“She considers it her life’s mission to bring Georgia to Europe. Everything else was always secondary for her,” said Alexander Krevo-Assatiani, Zurabishvili’s former assistant.

In 2003, she was appointed the ambassador of France to Georgia. A year later, she received Georgian citizenship and became the Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Mikheil Saakashvili. Retired in 2005, she took an increasingly prominent role in her country’s politics, founding a new party.

Saakashvili’s rule ended in 2012, and since then “Georgian Dream” has been in power. The founder of the party, billionaire Bidina Ivanishvili, is considered by Georgians to be the most influential person in his country. As fate would have it, he is also French, having received citizenship in 2010.

With the support of Ivanishvili’s party, Zurabishvili was initially not popular among the pro-Western youth of the country. In the popular TV show, she was mocked for speaking Georgian with a strong French accent.

She was seen as a supporter of a ruling party unpopular with many young people, and she blamed the brief war with Russia in 2008 on Georgia, which allowed itself to be provoked.

But as her presidential term progressed, Georgian Dream became increasingly authoritarian and anti-Western, cracking down on civil society and NGOs. He has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has branded the West a “party of global war”, mocking his stated aim of joining the EU and NATO.

Zurabishvili openly challenged the government, believing that it has the support of the majority of the population of Georgia.

She vowed to veto the “foreign influence” bill, which mirrors Russian legislation passed under President Vladimir Putin, but the government passed it anyway, defying weeks of protests.

“The choice before Georgia is between independence or slavery, Europe or Russia,” she said in April.

She often addressed the protesters who gathered outside the parliament every evening for a month, speaking to them as the conscience of the nation against the Russian-friendly government.

Last month, she asked the riot police accused by the opposition of brutalizing protesters: “Do you serve Russia or Georgia?”

Many protesters who initially distrusted the president for coming to power with the support of the “Georgian Dream” have grown to respect her open resistance.

“Nobody expected her to be this good. She reflects our values,” said Irakli, a 34-year-old man who regularly participated in demonstrations. “She motivates us to fight.”

Ahead of the disputed October election, the government tried to impeach her for meeting with EU leaders without government permission. The attempt ultimately failed, but it was a sign of the showdown to come.

Zurabishvili called the elections, which returned “Georgian Dream” to power, “completely falsified.” She backed opposition parties’ calls for a repeat vote, angering senior party leaders.

Now she faces her biggest challenge as Georgian Dream prepares to appoint Mikhail Kavelashvili as president to replace her.

But Zurabishvili insists she will not go, creating a likely constitutional crisis. Prime Minister of Georgian Dream Irakli Kabakhidze threatened her with arrest.

“Let’s see where she ends up, behind bars or on the street,” he told reporters this week.

One way or another, the authorities will force her to leave, believes Piotr Tsiskarishvili from the opposition United National Movement.

Aware that he did not want to make her a political martyr and further elevate her status, he could avoid a high-profile arrest, he added, perhaps simply by locking her out of her official residence at the Arbeliani Palace.

Doubts about her will remain. Some representatives of the opposition blame her for putting a pro-European face on the authoritarian turn of the “Georgian Dream” for too long and refraining from criticizing Ivanishvili just a few months ago.

But in a country where pro-European forces have often fractured, Zurabishvili’s supporters say she is likely to emerge after her term as the government’s key challenger.

“Even if she is arrested, she will still be considered the legitimate president of Georgia. There is no doubt about that,” said Mr Crevo-Assatiani, a former presidential aide.