In Georgia, Parliament, boycotted by the opposition and widely considered “illegitimate”elected, on Saturday December 14, former pro-Russian footballer Mikheïl Kavelashvili, 53, as president of the country. It is the first time in the history of this former Soviet republic in the Caucasus that the head of state is not elected by direct universal suffrage, but by a college of voters, controlled by the party in power, Georgian dream. The latter, with a majority in Parliament, voted 224 votes out of 225 for this highly controversial candidate, who arouses criticism even in his own camp.
Known for his violent anti-Western diatribes, Mikheïl Kavelashvili is due to succeed the pro-European president, Salomé Zourabichvili, 72, on December 29. This former French diplomat, however, announced that she refused to leave her post until new legislative elections were held. Like the opposition, it believes, in fact, that the election of October 26 – the results of which granted a fourth mandate to Georgian Dream – was “rigged” with the help of Russia.
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