Georgian lawmakers have voted in Mikheil Kavelashvili, a far-right former soccer star as the country’s next President.
Kavelashvili, 53, is a former MP for the ruling Georgian Dream party and played for the English soccer team Manchester City during the 1990s.
He was the only candidate in the running.
For the first time, the President was chosen not by a national election, but in parliament by a direct ballot of a 300-member electoral college made up of MPs and representatives of local government.
Due to the fact that the four main opposition groups have boycotted parliament since October’s disputed election, Kavelashvili was a shoo-in to win.
In total, there were 225 electors present for the vote, and 224 voted for Kavelashvili, who was the only candidate nominated.
He was said to be inaugurated on December 29, 2024.
Kavelashvili is a hardline critic of the West and his upcoming presidency will no doubt deepen tensions in the country between pro-Kremlin forces and pro-European Union protesters, many of whom who have camped out in Tbilisi for the past 16 nights following the government’s decision to halt talks on joining the EU.
Critics have questioned Kavelashvili’s competence for the role, pointing to his background in sport rather than politics.
He entered politics in 2016 after he was disqualified from seeking the leadership of the Georgian football federation because he has no higher education.
Natalie Sabanadze, Georgia’s former Ambassador to the EU, told a news agency that Kavelashvili is “absolutely not qualified” and that his selection was taken by many Georgians as “an insult to the country.”
“This was not just a nomination of a puppet who obviously cannot think for himself, but I think it was also a signal to Europe that… we’ll have a President which is completely opposed to the Western values.”
Natalie Sabanadze
The vote for Kavelashvili came amid mounting popular anger over the government’s halt to EU accession talks.
Despite claiming earlier that his party was committed to joining the EU, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced on November 28,2024, that his government would suspend accession talks with the EU, which some 80% of Georgians support joining.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s relations with the EU have deteriorated sharply in recent months as Brussels has alleged that the government had resorted to authoritarian measures and adopted pro-Russian stances.
Pro-EU Georgian citizens have demonstrated outside the parliament building in Tbilisi every night since November 28, despite police and masked “special forces” meting out a catalogue of violence against dozens of protesters.
Georgia’s interior ministry has said that more than 150 officers have been injured during the protests.
Early on Saturday, protesters took to the streets for a 17th day.
Some were seen kicking soccer balls, seeming to mock the expected appointment of Kavelashvili.
Outgoing President Decries Presidential Vote
The outgoing President, Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-Western figure who has joined the opposition protesters, said that the presidential vote makes “a mockery of democracy.”
Before the vote, she vowed to remain in office despite the result, insisting that she holds the only legitimate institution left in Georgia.
It is not clear how Georgian Dream will respond if Zourabichvili refuses to leave office.
In an interview with a news agency in October, Zourabichvili downplayed fears about her safety, saying her future “is not as important as the future of Georgia.”
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