Georgia’s first female president warns of Russia’s threat to democracy

Salomé Zourabichvili, Georgia’s fifth president and the first woman to hold the office, used her Washington appearance after receiving Freedom House’s 2026 Mark Palmer Prize to press a stark message: Georgia’s institutions still exist on paper, but Russian influence is eroding the democratic reality beneath them. In an interview on CBS News 24/7, she tied that warning to the country’s wider struggle to stay anchored to Europe.

Her warning rests on a contested election and a credibility crisis that has not faded. After Georgia’s October 2024 parliamentary vote, the Central Election Commission said Georgian Dream won almost 54 percent of the vote, but Zourabichvili refused to recognize the result. Opposition parties and international observers reported intimidation, pressure on voters and procedural inconsistencies, turning the ballot into a referendum on whether Georgia would keep moving toward the European Union or drift back toward Moscow’s orbit.

The pressure has only deepened since then. Brussels suspended Georgia’s E.U. membership process indefinitely after the passage of a Russian-style foreign influence law in June 2024, and protests have continued for more than 300 days as demonstrators challenge the ruling party’s course. Amnesty International says the country has spent 500 days in protest and crackdown, with authorities weaponizing disinformation, abusive legislation, police force and the courts against dissent.

That is why Zourabichvili’s warning matters beyond Tbilisi. Georgia sits on Europe’s frontier, and the country’s struggle now tests whether elections, protests and formal democratic institutions can still restrain a ruling power that is tightening its grip while leaning toward Russia. If the West looks away, the cost is not just one disputed vote. It is a weaker barrier against Russian influence at a strategically exposed edge of Europe.