Salome Zurabishvili was sworn in as Georgia's first female president on Sunday. Her inauguration marks the start of a new constitution which transforms her post into a largely ceremonial role.

Paris-born Zurabishvili won a run-off vote last month with 59.6 percent of the ballot, according to the Central Election Commission. Turnout was 56.23 percent.

Sunday's ceremony took place in the courtyard of an 18th-century manor that belonged to Georgia's penultimate king, Heraclius II.

Read more: Georgia's first female president

Attendees included former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who brokered a ceasefire deal during Georgia's 2008 war with Russia

Path to Europe

Zurabishvili said in her inaugural speech that she would use her experience in France's diplomatic service, and previous role as Georgia's foreign minister, to promote her nation's aspirations to join the European Union and the NATO transatlantic military alliance.

"The goal of my presidency is to make Georgia's democratic development and its path toward Europe irreversible," said the 66-year-old.

"I will facilitate this process with the support of our strategic partner, the United States of America, and our European friends."

Georgia signed an association agreement with the EU in 2014 as part of its efforts to diversify economic ties.

Read more: EU offers Eastern Partnership members money, motivation

Georgia - a holiday destination between the Caucasus and the Black Sea Georgia, melting pot of cultures Multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious: This is Georgia. The breathtakingly beautiful country between the Caucasus and the Black Sea is one of the oldest settlement areas of mankind. Today about 3.7 million people live in this small country with its magnificent nature and culture.

Georgia - a holiday destination between the Caucasus and the Black Sea The capital Tiblisi The metropolis of Tbilisi is Georgia's cultural centre. And it has been since the 5th century. The city has known Roman, Arab, Turkish, Persian and other conquerors. Russia invaded Georgia in 1799 and remained there until the end of the Soviet era. They all left their traces. Tbilisi celebrates the present day with new constructions such as the Peace Bridge and the Concert Hall (right).

Georgia - a holiday destination between the Caucasus and the Black Sea Old town and fortress Since the 3rd century, the Narikala fortress has kept watch over the old town with the typical balconies and carvings on the houses. The panorama path up to the fortress leads through a labyrinth of alleys. The massive castle has seen conquerors come and go, was destroyed and rebuilt again and again. Only a lightning strike in the powder warehouse (1827) turned it into a ruin.

Georgia - a holiday destination between the Caucasus and the Black Sea Where the royals resided The Metekhi Virgin Mary Church can be seen on the steep bank of the Kura, which flows through Tbilisi. From the 12th century, the residence of the Georgian kings was located on this site, as is indicated by the equestrian monument next to the church. It depicts King Vakhtang Gorgasali, the founder of Tbilisi. In 1937, under Soviet rule, the residence was demolished. The church survived.

Georgia - a holiday destination between the Caucasus and the Black Sea 700 years of bathing culture The Abanotubani district with its hot thermal springs is considered the oldest part of Tbilisi. The springs have been used for 700 years. The Persian-style bathhouses were built later, in the 17th century. The bathing rooms are located under the domed brick vaults. A number of them are still in use today and are a popular meeting place to bathe and chat.

Georgia - a holiday destination between the Caucasus and the Black Sea 7,000 years of wine cultivation They are called Chinuri, Chichwi or Orbeluri. Grape varieties from Georgia enjoy an excellent reputation. The largest wine-growing areas are in the east of the country, in Kakheti. Archaeological finds prove that wine was cultivated in Georgia over 7,000 years ago. And even this very day wine is cultivated in amphorae. UNESCO declared this method an intangible cultural heritage.

Georgia - a holiday destination between the Caucasus and the Black Sea 70 years of Soviet rule When you travel through the country, you will encounter relics from Soviet era: Houses, factories, monuments or, as here, this viewing platform on a former military road near Kazbegi mountain. All of them stone testimonies. Georgia was part of the Soviet Union for 70 years - until 9 April 1991, when the people voted for independence in a referendum.

Georgia - a holiday destination between the Caucasus and the Black Sea Hiking in the Caucasus The most diverse landscapes and climate zones are concentrated in the most compact area; from the mountain villages of the Caucasus to the beaches of the Black Sea. Almost half of Georgia is covered with forest. Two thirds of the country is mountainous, with several 5,000 meter (16,404 ft) peaks. Numerous nature reserves and national parks make Georgia a worthwhile destination for hikers.

Georgia - a holiday destination between the Caucasus and the Black Sea A remote UNESCO World Heritage Site 2,200 meters above sea level, in the Great Caucasus, lies Ushguli - "Courageous Heart"; a community of four villages with roots dating back to the 16th century BC. Ushguli is considered to be the highest situated permanently inhabited place in Europe. Since 1996, the villages with their characteristic fortified towers have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Georgia - a holiday destination between the Caucasus and the Black Sea Vardzia – city in the rock Up to 50,000 people lived in the cave town of Vardzia. It lies in the south of Georgia. It was built in the 12th century as a fortress to defend against Turks and Persians. It was carved by hand with simple tools into a 500 meter high rock face, seven storeys above each other. There were bakeries, stables, a treasury and a church.

Georgia - a holiday destination between the Caucasus and the Black Sea The old capital of Kutaisi 160 kilometers from the Black Sea coast lies the old capital of Georgia, Kutaisi. It was the residence of the Georgian kings from the 10th century until 1122. Many are buried here. Churches, monasteries, palace ruins and the well-preserved medieval townscape make this city worth a visit. Today it is the economic and cultural center of West Georgia.

Georgia - a holiday destination between the Caucasus and the Black Sea Coastal town of Batumi The Black Sea coast. The climate is mild Mediterranean. The port city of Batumi, the third largest city in Georgia, beckons you to take a stroll along the beach. The promenade is flanked by art objects. It is not the only contrast. Between the derelict residential buildings, huge malls and luxury residential buildings are being built. A well-known real estate mogul has invested here: Donald Trump.

Georgia - a holiday destination between the Caucasus and the Black Sea Hospitality & traditions More than twenty different ethnic groups live in Georgia, including Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Arameans, Jews and Greeks. They brought their traditions and customs with them. And the Georgians? They love their own traditions and do not miss a single festival to wear their traditional costumes. They celebrate passionately - with traditional music and dances. Folk festivals are always a spectacle. Author: Anne Termèche (sbc)



Potatoes and protests

Opposition parties had denounced her victory as fraudulent. Opposition supporters marched with sacks of onions and potatoes on Sunday to mock what they claim were government efforts to bribe voters by handing out free vegetables.

Police blocked a convoy of cars and buses, which stretched for kilometers, on the road leading from the capital Tbilisi to the medieval town of Telavi, where Zurabishvili's ceremony was held.

Clashes erupted between police officers and protesters as they tried to break through police ranks, reported the pro-opposition Rustavi-2 broadcaster.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitors elections, said the election was administered well, but that state resources were misused in the campaign and "one side enjoyed an undue advantage."

kw/rc (AP, AFP, Reuters)

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Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.</s>Salome Zurabishvili was sworn in as the president of Georgia on December 16 after she won a runoff last month. The French-born candidate supported by the ruling Georgian Dream party becomes the first woman to hold the office in the Caucasian country. Outgoing President Giorgi Margvelashvili and the ailing Patriarch Ilia II, head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, also took part in the inauguration ceremony in the historic town of Telavi.</s>Georgia's first female president has been sworn in on Sunday after being elected with over 59 percent of the votes in late November.

The oath-taking ceremony of the country’s first woman president Salome Zurabishvili was attended by Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay.

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Azerbaijan's Parliament Speaker Oktay Asadov were also among the participants.

Zurabishvili, the fifth president of Georgia, said: "Georgia is facing big problems. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are under Russia's occupation."

She called on Russia to recognize all international legal rights of Georgia and said it was a must for normal neighboring relations.

After attending the ceremony, the Turkish vice president met Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze at the King Erekle II Palace and invited him to a High-Level Cooperation Council meeting in Turkey that will be held in first quarter of 2019.

During the closed-door meeting, they discussed bilateral relations between the two neighboring countries.

They agreed that recent energy and transportation lines have improved cooperation between Turkey and Georgia.

Oktay and Bakhtadze also agreed to increase continuation of economic cooperation and joint projects.

Later in day, Oktay also met Azerbaijan’s parliament speaker.

They said the close relation between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev boosted bilateral ties.

This article has been adapted from its original source.</s>VELISTSIKHE, GEORGIA—The first woman president of Georgia has been sworn into office amid continued protests from opposition figures who allege her election was tainted.

President Salome Zurabishvili said during her inauguration speech on Sunday that she would work "to promote our country's integration process into NATO and the EU."</s>President-elect Salome Zurabishvili was sworn into office on Sunday in Telavi, Georgia. A former foreign minister, she was backed by the ruling Georgia Dream-Democratic Georgia Party and won nearly 60 percent of the votes in a runoff against Grigol Vashadze on November 28. A number of supporters of former President Mikheil Saakshvili were involved in scuffles with police as they were heading to Telavi to hold a protest rally there.</s>(VELISTSIKHE, Georgia) — The first woman president of Georgia has been sworn into office amid continued protests from opposition figures who allege her election was tainted.

President Salome Zurabishvili said during her inauguration speech on Sunday that she would work “to promote our country’s integration process into NATO and the EU.”

Opposition activists clashed with police after authorities blocked access to the inauguration’s venue in the city of Telavi.

Zurabishvili, a French-born former foreign minister, won a November 28 runoff against opposition candidate Grigol Vashadze. The government favored her in the race.

The opposition alleges gross electoral violations occurred during the presidential election that make the outcome illegitimate.

Observers for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have said the government was overly involved in the election campaign.</s>NONGPOH: The KSU, Nongpoh Circle, on Saturday elected new office bearers for 2018-21 at a function held at the Sajer Community Hall in Ri Bhoi. The newly-elected office bearers include its president, Bapynshngain Lyngdoh, vice president, Elevenson Makdoh, general secretary, Ronald Khongjoh besides others.</s>TELAVI, Georgia: Georgia on Sunday swore in its first female president, Salome Zurabishvili as opposition parties continue to denounce her election as fraudulent and demand snap parliamentary polls.

The inauguration paved the way for a new constitution to come into force, transforming the country into a parliamentary republic with a largely ceremonial president. The event was held in the mediaeval town of Telavi in Georgia´s eastern winemaking region of Kakheti.

French-born Zurabishvili, 66, took the oath of office in the courtyard of an 18th-century manor that belonged to Georgia´s penultimate king Heraclius II. "The goal of my presidency is to make Georgia´s democratic development and its path towards Europe irreversible," she said in an inaugural speech.

"I will facilitate this process with the support of our strategic partner, the United States of America, and our European friends," she said. Opposition parties have refused to recognise Zurabishvili´s election and tried to hold a protest rally outside the royal residence. But the plan was thwarted by police, who on Sunday morning blocked a kilometres-long opposition motorcade on a road leading from the capital Tbilisi to Telavi.

Pro-opposition Rustavi-2 TV channel reported that clashes briefly erupted between police officers and protesters as they tried to break through police ranks. Zurabishvili was elected as the ex-Soviet nation´s president last month.

She defeated Grigol Vashadze, the candidate of an 11-party opposition alliance led by exiled former president Mikheil Saakashvili´s United National Movement. She was backed in the election by the ruling Georgian Dream party of Georgia´s ex-premier and billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Ivanishvili, Georgia´s richest man, stepped down as prime minister in 2013 after just a year in office but is still widely believed to be Georgia´s de facto ruler. His critics accuse him of "state capture". Former French diplomat Zurabishvili has said her election was a step forward for women and a move closer to Europe.</s>Telavi, Georgia: Georgia on Sunday swore in its first female president, Salome Zurabishvili as opposition parties continue to denounce her election as fraudulent and demand snap parliamentary polls.



The inauguration paved the way for a new constitution to come into force, transforming the country into a parliamentary republic with a largely ceremonial president.

The event was held in the mediaeval town of Telavi in Georgia´s eastern winemaking region of Kakheti.

French-born Zurabishvili, 66, took the oath of office in the courtyard of an 18th-century manor that belonged to Georgia´s penultimate king Heraclius II.

"The goal of my presidency is to make Georgia´s democratic development and its path towards Europe irreversible," she said in an inaugural speech.

"I will facilitate this process with the support of our strategic partner, the United States of America, and our European friends," she said.

Opposition parties have refused to recognise Zurabishvili´s election last month and tried to hold a protest rally outside the royal residence.

But the plan was thwarted by police, who on Sunday morning blocked a kilometres-long opposition motorcade on a road leading from the capital Tbilisi to Telavi.

Pro-opposition Rustavi-2 TV channel reported that clashes briefly erupted between police officers and protesters as they tried to break through police ranks.

"Georgian Dream has taken away our constitution, our state institutions, our freedom of expression," defeated candidate Grigol Vashadze told journalists after a failed attempt to stage a protest in Telavi.

Vashadze was the candidate of an 11-party opposition alliance led by exiled former president Mikheil Saakashvili´s United National Movement.

Zurabishvili was backed in the election by the ruling Georgian Dream party of Georgia´s ex-premier and billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Ivanishvili, Georgia´s richest man, stepped down as prime minister in 2013 after just a year in office but is still widely believed to be Georgia´s de facto ruler. His critics accuse him of "state capture" as his loyalists hold key cabinet posts.

Former French diplomat Zurabishvili has said her election was a step forward for women and a move closer to Europe.

But opposition parties have refused to accept the result, pointing to instances of alleged vote-buying, multiple voting, voter intimidation, and ballot-stuffing in the November 28 election.

On December 2, thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets in Tbilisi against the election result, demanding snap parliamentary polls.

Georgia´s leading rights groups denounced the electoral irregularities, which the US State Department said were "not consistent with the country´s commitment to fully fair and transparent elections."

Observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that while the election was "competitive" and candidates campaigned freely, it was concerned over "the misuse of state resources" by the ruling party.

In what critics derided as "vote-buying" ahead of the election, Ivanishvili promised the government would drastically increase social spending and pledged to spend his own money to write off the bank loans of more than 600,000 people.

Zurabishvili was born in France to a Georgian family who fled the Bolshevik regime to Paris in 1921.

She studied international relations at the prestigious Paris Institute of Political Sciences before a 30-year career as a French diplomat, with postings to the United Nations, Washington and Chad.

Her career in French diplomacy culminated in a posting to Tbilisi, where then-president Saakashvili appointed her as foreign minister.

But Zurabishvili quickly made enemies in the ranks of the parliamentary majority, with MPs and a number of senior diplomats publicly accusing her of arrogance.

She was sacked in 2005 after a year on the job, though thousands took to the streets of the capital to protest her dismissal.

She then joined the opposition as a member of parliament and became one of Saakashvili´s fiercest critics.

In her book "A Woman for Two Countries", published in France after her firing, she wrote: "Now, I have to engage in a political battle, which has never attracted me, which I never practised, which is being imposed on me."

Zurabishvili will be Georgia´s last directly elected president as the country transitions to a parliamentary form of governance following a controversial constitutional reform.

The Caucasus country´s next president will be elected in 2024 by a 300-member electoral college.

Adopted in September 2017, the constitutional change was protested by all opposition parties which denounced it as favouring the ruling party.</s>(Civil.Ge) — Salome Zurabishvili, 66, was sworn in as Georgia’s fifth president for a six-year term on December 16 in an oath-taking ceremony in the eastern Georgian town of Telavi.

“I, the President of Georgia, before the God and the Nation, declare to observe the Constitution of Georgia, defend the independence, unity and indivisibility of the country, to perform faithfully the duties of the President, to take care for the security and welfare of the citizens of my country and for the revival and might of my nation and homeland,” Zurabishvili said, holding her hand on the Georgian constitution.

After the oath-taking, Zurabishvili delivered the inauguration speech in presence of invited guests, foreign dignitaries, government members and lawmakers from the ruling party and Georgian soldiers. President Giorgi Margvelashvili attended the ceremony as well.

The oath-taking ceremony marked entry into force of the new constitution, which completes the country’s transition from semi-presidential to parliamentary system of governance.

The new constitution will further reduce president’s executive powers, a process launched in the 2010 constitutional amendments and finalized in the 2017 constitutional changes.

This also marked the last time the head of state was elected through direct ballot. According to the new constitution, which entered into force upon Zurabishvili’s inauguration, the head of state will be elected by a 300-member Electoral College for a term of five years starting from 2024.

A day before the oath-taking ceremony, on December 15, President-elect Salome Zurabishvili laid a wreath at the memorial of fallen Georgian soldiers at Heroes’ Square in Tbilisi. She also visited the Mtatsminda Pantheon, a cemetery of public figures in Tbilisi.

The Presidential runoff was held on November 28. The ruling party-backed candidate Salome Zurabishvili obtained 59.52% of the votes, while her challenger – Grigol Vashadze of the United Opposition finished with 40.48% of the votes. Vashadze did not accept the election results, citing mass election fraud.
Salome Zurabishvili takes office as President of Georgia. Zurabishvili is the first woman in office and the last president to be elected by popular vote.