Salome Zurabishvili was a French diplomat before entering the turbulent politics of her ancestral homeland, where she was elected Georgia's first woman leader in 2018 and became the beacon of Tbilisi's EU aspirations.

The Georgian president, 72, has increasingly become embroiled in a fierce feud with the ruling Georgian Dream party as it turned increasingly illiberal, backing massive anti-government protests.

Born in Paris to a Georgian family who fled Bolshevik rule in the 1920s, Zurabishvili has accused the government of steering Tbilisi back towards Moscow and acting on Russian orders.

"We are witnesses and victims of a Russian special operation, a modern form of hybrid war against the Georgian people," she declared after a contested October parliamentary election.

For tens of thousands of protesters, Zurabishvili represents hope against an increasingly repressive government that has adopted a series of Kremlin-styled laws.

She has demanded a re-run of the election marred by widespread fraud and which she says Georgian Dream "stole."

Her mandate is meant to end later this month but she has vowed not to step down unless Georgian........

© International Business Times