Page 7 - Caucasus Outlook 2025

GD-loyalist, ex-footballer with no higher education – to be Georgia’s sixth president following an election in which Kavelashvili was the sole candidate. Many Georgians view the appointment – orchestrated by GD founder and funder Bidzina Ivanishvili – to signal the subordination of Georgia’s last remaining liberal institution to the Russia-friendly GD regime.
On December 29, as Kavelashvili was being inaugurated behind closed doors, Zourabichvili announced to crowds of protesters that, while she was leaving her residence at Tbilisi’s Orbeliani Palace, she remained the sole legitimate president of the Georgian people, and would now join them in solidarity on the streets.
Now in 2025, what began in November 2024 as demonstrations against GD’s drastic foreign policy shift have grown into a broader resistance movement uniting Georgians in cities, towns and villages across the country.
Numbers at the nightly Rustaveli protests have been lower in recent days, coinciding with the festive period, but a countrywide strike is planned for January 15, which demonstrators hope will further encourage a citizen-led push for democratic reforms in Georgia. It feels as though a “make or break” moment is approaching; whether or not the early January protest “embers” erupt once again into a nationwide blaze remains to be seen, though sustained engagement for over 40 days and nights is a feat in itself and is no doubt making GD sweat.
Ruling party officials, including Ivanishvili and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, have been hit by sanctions and visa restrictions from Georgia’s Western partners, including the US and Ukraine. Reasons include brutally cracking down on peaceful protesters, undermining democracy and stalling Georgia’s European integration process. Many in Georgia believe the collapse of the GD party from within is the only way to end its long period in power, and protesters are calling on the US and EU to continue to mount pressure on the Georgian authorities.
GD is assumed to be waiting to see whether or not the protests will fizzle out and is also waiting for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, on January 20, which its leaders hope will somehow swing the EU’s policy towards the contested government in Tbilisi.
1.2 Politics – Armenia
2024 saw significant political developments in Armenia that reshaped its domestic and international landscape. In late November, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan initiated a major government reshuffle that led to the resignation of six senior officials, including the heads of
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