On 29 December, the mandate of President Salome Zurabišvili expires. She supports the popular protests that have been going on for three weeks against fraud in the elections won by the Georgian Dream, which has ‘frozen’ the European integration project. He is calling for new elections to be called by then, while Prime Minister Iraklij Kobakhidze is threatening to open criminal proceedings against him.

A long report by Article18, CSW, Open Doors and Middle East Concern raises the issue. The future for migrants is uncertain with abuse and violence potentially waiting for them should they return to Iran. In 2023, 20 per cent of asylum seekers in Georgia came from Iran, 90 per cent fleeing after converting to Christianity.

Prime Minister Iraklij Kobakhidze's declaration of the interruption of EU accession talks until 2028 has made the clash even harsher, while the Constitutional Court has confirmed the outcome of the disputed elections. The police are using water cannons and tear gas and have already arrested hundreds of people. Former prime minister Georgij Kvirikašvili, former president of the majority party, has also sided with the protesters.

For the first time since the ‘velvet revolution’ of 2018, the Armenian premier showed his face shaved of his beard. A gesture to wink at the need to ‘bring the country back to zero’, an expression he increasingly used to call for ‘looking at the real Armenia and not the land of dreams’.

In his speech at the UN Conference underway in Baku, the Vatican Secretary of State reiterated Pope Francis’s appeal for the 2025 Jubilee. “A new international financial architecture” is needed “that can truly ensure for all countries, especially the poorest and those most vulnerable to climate disasters, both low-carbon and high-sharing development pathways”.

The opposition continues its mobilisation every night, denouncing the vote manipulations that would have led to the new success of the pro-Russian Georgian Dream. Documents are being collected for an international enquiry, while the outgoing government remains in a wait-and-see position, pointing to divisions between the parties and not believing in their ability to truly involve the population in the protest.