Georgia ruling party fails to oust pro-Western president

TBILISI:

Georgia ruling

party lawmakers failed to get enough votes to remove the country's pro-EU president Salome Zurabishvili Wednesday, after she accused the government of undermining Tbilisi's

EU membership

bid.
Ruling

Georgian Dream party

MPs only gathered 86 votes of the 100 needed to oust Zurabishvili in the first-ever

impeachment vote

in the country's history, which opposition parties boycotted.
On Monday, Georgia's constitutional court ruled that Zurabishvili, 71, had violated the constitution by making foreign trips to lobby for Georgian membership of the EU without the government's permission.
"No-one could impede me on the road leading to the sole goal I have today: to get an EU candidate status for Georgia by the end of the year," she told parliament ahead of the vote.

"During this difficult time, I call on our European partners not to abandon Georgia despite this anti-European impeachment vote," she said.
Critics have accused the ruling party of steering Georgia towards the Kremlin.
"In the time when Russia is being defeated in Ukraine, it must not be allowed to strengthen its influence in this region with the use of soft power, occupation, and the destabilisation of the Black Sea region," Zurabishvili said.

Ruling party chairman Irakli Kobakhidze called on the president to step down, saying she was "completely deprived of political and moral legitimacy".
Zurabishvili has criticised the government over what she said was its failure to deliver on the reforms which Brussels has demanded as a condition for granting EU-aspirant Georgia formal candidate status.
As president, Zurabishvili has limited powers under Georgia's constitution, having a mainly ceremonial role.