Zourabichvili hosts a New Year's Eve celebration for opposition and government parties
On December 16, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili invited the opposition to a New Year's event at her residence. The offer has already been resurrected by several MPs. She took it upon herself, according to the president, to start the reconciliation process. This, according to Salome Zourabichvili, will be the start of a process of reconciliation, truth, and justice: "This is the route that many nations have chosen, and which, I feel, is absolutely essential for Georgia now."
The country's major opposition group, the "United National Movement," declined Zourabichvili’s invitation (its leader is the incumbent former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili). President Salome Zourabichvili also submitted her countrywide reconciliation program to the leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II, according to the Presidential Administration. The Georgian patriarchate, for its part, indicated that the Church will back any proposal "based on Christian and fair values."
On December 10, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili spoke at the Democracy Summit hosted by US President Joe Biden, saying that polarisation, the spread of false information, and hate speech not only incite internal strife, but also undermine state institutions and democratic processes, including the two pillars of democracy: election trust and media freedom.
Mikheil Saakashvili backs President Zourabichvili’s proposal for a national agreement in Georgia
Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia's detained ex-president, reacted to President Salome Zourabichvili’s remark, saying that for the first time in many years, he heard "an impartial and quite truthful portrayal of the reality (in the nation)." In addition, Saakashvili appreciates the suggestion for conversation, which runs parallel to the nonviolent demonstration.
"The reality is that we do not have the economic boom and prosperity that the government claims; rather, the country is in the midst of the biggest socioeconomic and political catastrophe in its history, and people are fleeing in droves. Our country and society are unable to progress.”
It required a lot of bravery to express this, and Salome Zourabichvili [has] unquestionably shown it tonight," the ex-president stated. He also stated that he will not stop fighting until the challenging condition, which even Georgia's current president described in her address, is drastically improved for all Georgian citizens.
According to Zourabichvili, the reconciliation process must be entirely open, which means it would start with individual or group dialogues encompassing all areas. Any development of any preconditions for the commencement of the process, according to her, would produce additional divisiveness and conflicts.
