Ex-footballer Mikhail Kavelashvili new President of Georgia

Mikhail Kavelashvili used to play for Swiss football clubs and is now the president of Georgia. But the country is in a state crisis because the opposition does not recognize the election.

A new president has been elected in Georgia after weeks of protests.

224 members of an electoral committee voted for ex-footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili, Georgian media reported. Kavelashvili was nominated by the pro-Russian ruling party “Georgian Dream”.

There were no opposing candidates. Georgia has been in a state crisis for months because the opposition does not recognize the electoral process.

This is how the new president ticks

The 53-year-old Kavelashvili has been a member of the Georgian Parliament since 2016. Before that he was a footballer for various clubs, including Manchester City and several clubs in Switzerland. He played for Basel, Zurich and GC, among others.

In 2016 he entered Georgia’s parliament and later founded the anti-Western offshoot “People’s Power” with others, which was registered as a party in 2023. Party founder and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili said of the new president that he was the “embodiment of the Georgian man”.

After the announcement of Kavelashvili’s victory, the President of neighboring Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, congratulated. Georgia’s Prime Minister Iraqi Kobakhidze also congratulated the former footballer. “For more than 20 years, Georgia did not have a patriotic, morally and psychologically balanced person as president,” he said.

Other tones come from Natalie Sabanadze, Georgia’s former ambassador to the EU. She told CNN that Kavelashvili was “absolutely not qualified.” And, she painted a gloomy picture:

Oppositon calls election a “parody”

Hundreds of demonstrators also protested in front of parliament on election day, including incumbent Salome Zourabichvili. “Nobody voted for anyone. “Nothing happened,” said the current president. She had previously stated that she saw herself as the only legitimate president and described the election as a “parody”.

It is the first time that the head of state was chosen not directly, but by an electoral body made up of MPs and regional representatives. The constitution was changed accordingly in 2017 on the initiative of the ruling party “Georgian Dream”. The opposition has already declared that it will not recognize the election.

Does not accept the election of the new president: incumbent Salome Zourabichvili.Bild: keystone

The opposition representatives did not accept the mandates won in the controversial parliamentary elections at the end of October – due to allegations of fraud in the election. Therefore, fewer than the 300 people’s representatives actually planned were present in the electoral committee. 200 votes were needed to win the election on Saturday.

Since the parliamentary election, which was overshadowed by allegations of fraud, people in Georgia have been demonstrating regularly against the ruling party. Georgia’s Interior Ministry said 150 police officers were also injured during the protests. The number of injured demonstrators was not stated. Dozens of people, including opposition politicians, were arrested.

Protests in Georgia on December 14th. Bild: keystone

The protests reached new levels after Prime Minister Kobakhidze announced that there would be no accession negotiations with the EU until 2028. Critics see this as Russia’s growing influence on Georgian politics.

(kma/dab/sda/dpa)

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