Georgian Parliament Speaker: Georgia is sovereign state and will not tolerate foreign interference

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday said that the ruling Georgian Dream party has a mandate from 1.12 million Georgian citizens to govern the country independently and reject any foreign interference in domestic affairs and elections.

Speaking to the journalists, Papuashvili said Georgia is an independent and sovereign state and that the government would maintain the same stance toward anyone attempting to interfere in the choices of Georgian citizens.

“What we are doing is carrying out the will of the Georgian people. In the latest elections, 1.12 million Georgian citizens gave us a mandate to govern the country as we are governing it and to move it toward the goals we have set”, he said.

“We have a mandate from 1.12 million Georgians. This mandate means that violating Georgia’s sovereignty is unacceptable and that no one has the right to interfere in our internal affairs or elections”, Papuashvili noted.

He emphasised that the Georgian Parliament was fulfilling this mandate, and some people were unhappy about it.

“The previous US administration was unhappy that people who would directly carry out its will were not elected here. Some governments in Europe are similarly unhappy that their puppets are not in power in Georgia. How the other side deals with this disappointment is up to them. We are not going to compromise by giving anyone the opportunity to change the choice of the Georgian people from outside simply in exchange for them looking more favorably upon us”, he continued.

“Everyone will have to accept this. This is an independent, sovereign state, and anyone who attempts to interfere in the choices of our citizens will be met with the same attitude”, Papuashvili said.

Papuashvili also noted that, recently, there have been signs that a number of countries are reassessing their policies toward Georgia.