Outgoing Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili announced she would remain in the presidential Orbeliani Palace overnight before her successor's inauguration, in a decision that could lead to violent clashes between the authorities and thousands of protestors that have filled the streets of Tbilisi in the last month.

Pro-EU Zurabishvili, who previously held a French passport and was a western diplomat, rejected the legitimacy of both the parliamentary elections on October 26 and the subsequent appointment of a new president by an electoral college dominated by the ruling Georgian Dream party. Zurabishvili faces a possible jail sentence if she refuses to leave office by the end of Sunday in a decision that could also spark a constitutional crisis.

"I greet you from the Orbeliani Palace. I am here, I will stay here, and I will spend the night here," Zurabishvili said in a video address the day before the presidential inauguration, calling on supporters to gather outside the residence at 10:00 local time on Sunday morning.

The standoff comes as president-elect Mikheil Kavelashvili prepares to be sworn in, slated for 11:00 local time on December 29 at the nearby parliament building. Zurabishvili has refused to acknowledge October's parliamentary elections and disputes the legitimacy of both Georgian Dream that won the recent parliamentary elections at the end of October and chose Kavelashvili as the new president in November as her successor.

The unprecedented situation has drawn international attention. The US government announced that it was imposing sanctions on oligarch and the honoury head of the GD party, Bidzina Ivanishvili on December 27 with the EU also condemning the October elections as flawed. French Patriot Party leader Florian Philippot suggested Zurabishvili could face imprisonment if she refuses to vacate her position.

Protesters and anti-government people has formed a human "chain of unity" in Tbilisi ahead of the clash. Demonstrators lined up along the streets of the capital hand-in-hand in support of the outgoing president as part of nearly 30 days of continuous mass protests.

The US have accused Ivanishvili of undermining the country’s democratic institutions and Euro-Atlantic aspirations. Widely seen as the “puppet master” in Georgian politics, Ivanishvili has blamed a western “Party of War” for all of Georgia’s woes, following a rhetorical line Russian President Vladimir Putin has employed on many occasions. Georgian Dream has also pushed through several repressive laws, such as a “foreign agents law” that have also been pioneered by the Kremlin as means of tightening political control and neutering civil society.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Ivanishvili and Georgian Dream had "derailed Georgia's Euro-Atlantic future”", leaving the country vulnerable to Russian influence.

“The United States is designating Bidzina Grigoris Dze Ivanishvili, founder and honorary chairman of Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, for undermining the democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia for the benefit of the Russian Federation,” Blinken announced, in a statement published by the US State Department.

The sanctions also target Georgian Dream for its alleged "ongoing and violent repression" of citizens, including protestors, journalists, human rights activists, and opposition figures.

“The United States is committed to promoting accountability for those undermining democracy and human rights in Georgia,” Blinken’s statement concluded.