Claims of irregularities tarnished the second-round election won on November 28 by Salome Zurabishvili, backed by the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG) party. Ahead of the vote, GDDG leader Bidzina Ivanishvili in effect sidelined the unpopular Zurabishvili in order to help build the electoral support needed to get her into office.
GDDG will try to ensure Zurabishvili does not develop an independent stance like outgoing President Giorgi Margvelashvili.
Opposition attempts to leverage public discontent to press for early elections are likely to fail.
An early 2019 cabinet reshuffle may bring in the interior minister or the justice minister as premier.
Any attempt to re-engage with Moscow will come up against Russian intransigence on Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
