So that’s a wrap. Pro-Western protests may be continuing across the country, but the outcome of the struggle for Georgia’s political soul seems settled. 

Salome Zourabichvili, the leader of Georgia’s opposition movement who maintains that she is the only legitimately elected president, proclaimed the death of Georgian democracy on February 5 following action by the Georgian Dream leaders to turn parliament into a rubber stamp body for their authoritarian agenda. 

Opposition MPs from four political parties had boycotted the legislature to protest what they insist was widespread manipulation of last October’s parliamentary election results. The rump parliament, packed exclusively with Georgian Dream members, voted February 5 to revoke the mandates of 49 MPs who represented three of the four opposition parties. 

“Political life in Georgia has effectively ended today because there is no longer any political space,” Zourabichvili stated on Facebook, adding that “the constitution no longer exists, and no rights are protected – neither the right to free expression nor the right of assembly.”

Zourabichvili said the only hope for democracy’s resuscitation at this point is increased pressure from the United States and European Union to force fresh parliamentary elections. While the United States has imposed sanctions on Georgian Dream officials for embracing authoritarian practices, it seems unlikely Washington will act on Zourabichvili’s call to tighten the screws on Tbilisi, given the early foreign policy steps taken by the Trump administration, especially the effort to overhaul USAID.

Following Trump’s election last November, Zourabichvili was the only Georgian political figure to engage the then-president elect directly in discussions about Georgia’s political struggle, raising hopes in opposition circles that he would take interest in their cause to place the country back on a Western integration track. Hopes were further raised by the fact that Zourabichvili was the only Georgian public figure to attend Trump’s inauguration in January. But those hopes now seem misplaced.

Over the past few days, the rubber stamp parliament has moved swiftly to implement measures that solidify Georgian Dream’s hold on political and economic power, curtail the watchdog capabilities of the press and make it harder to protest government policies.

On February 6, Mikheil Kavelashvili, the Georgian Dream-installed president, finalized several laws that had been approved by MPs the same day, imposing restrictions on the staging of public protests and stiffening penalties for violators, RFE/RL reported.

Parliament also voted on February 6 to pack the board of the National Bank of Georgia, the country’s central bank, filling four vacancies with Georgian Dream loyalists. Georgian Dream leaders will now be able to wielded unchallenged authority over the country’s monetary policy. MPs additionally confirmed Natia Turnava as the bank’s governor. In early January, US Congress members called on Turnava and other Georgian Dream-connected individuals to be added to the US sanctions list for being part of a “network of enablers” of Georgia’s turn toward authoritarianism. 

On February 5, a bill introduced in parliament would amend media legislation to restrict foreign funding of Georgian-registered media organizations. Many of the country’s leading independent news organizations have been recipients of foreign assistance, from both governmental and non-governmental sources in the United States and EU. Such assistance has been critical for maintaining their watchdog capabilities. 

In rolling out the amendments, Mamuka Mdinaradze, a top Georgian Dream power broker, said media outlets should expect to generate most of their revenue “from commercial advertising.” What he didn’t mention is that the commercial advertising market in Georgia is unlikely to be able to support more than a few media organizations, and advertisers would be inclined to support state-aligned outlets to ensure staying on the government’s good side.

Other amendments pending in the legislature include a proposed limitation on the ability of non-governmental organizations to participate “in the public decision-making process.” The ‘foreign agents’ law, which already gives the government the ability to bully NGOs, will additionally be revamped to conform the US Foreign Agents Registration Act, the Civil.ge outlet reported.