BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
Former soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili became the president of Georgia on Saturday. This comes as the ruling party tightened its grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia.
The 53-year-old, who was the only candidate on the ballot, won the vote given the Georgian Dream party’s control of a 300-seat electoral college that replaced direct presidential elections in 2017. It is made up of members of Parliament, municipal councils and regional legislatures.
Georgian Dream retained control of Parliament in the South Caucasus nation in an Oct. 26 election that the opposition alleges was rigged with Moscow’s help. The party has vowed to continue pushing toward EU accession but also wants to “reset” ties with Russia.
Georgia’s outgoing president and main pro-Western parties have boycotted the post-election parliamentary sessions and demanded a rerun of the ballot.
Russia fought a brief war with Georgia in 2008, which led to Moscow’s recognition of two breakaway regions as independent, and an increase in the Russian military presence in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Salome Zourabichvili, 72, has been president since 2018 and has vowed to stay on after her six-year term ends Monday, describing herself as the only legitimate leader until a new election is held.
Georgian Dream’s decision last month to suspend talks on their country’s bid to join the European Union added to the opposition’s outrage and galvanized protests.
Born in France to parents with Georgian roots, Zourabichvili had a successful career with the French Foreign Ministry before President Mikheil Saakashvili named her Georgia’s top diplomat in 2004.
Constitutional changes made the president’s job largely ceremonial before Zourabichvili was elected by popular vote with Georgian Dream’s support in 2018. She became sharply critical of the ruling party, accusing it of pro-Russia policies, and Georgian Dream unsuccessfully tried to impeach her.
“I remain your president — there is no legitimate parliament and thus no legitimate election or inauguration,” she has declared on the social network X. “My mandate continues.”
Zourabichvili rejects government claims that the opposition was fomenting violence.
Zourabichvili said Saturday’s vote was a “provocation” and “a parody” while a leader of one of Georgia’s main opposition parties said it was unconstitutional.
Giorgi Vashadze of the Unity National Movement Coalition said Zourabichvili is “the only legitimate source of power.”
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said Kavelashvili’s win “will make a significant contribution to strengthening Georgia’s statehood and our sovereignty, as well as reducing radicalism and so-called polarization.”
“The main mission of the presidential institution is to care for the unity of the nation and society,” said Kobakhidze, a former university professor and later chairman of Georgian Dream.
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Georgian Dream nominated Kavelashvili — mocked for lacking higher education by Georgia’s opposition. Some protesters outside Tbilisi’s Parliament building on Saturday morning brought their own university diplomas while others kicked soccer balls.
Kavelashvili was a striker in the English Premier League for Manchester City and played for several soccer clubs in the Swiss Super League. He was elected to Parliament in 2016 on the Georgian Dream ticket and in 2022 co-founded the People’s Power political movement, which was allied with Georgian Dream and become known for its strong anti-Western rhetoric.
Kavelashvili was one of the authors of a controversial law requiring organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “pursuing the interest of a foreign power,” similar to a Russian law used to discredit organizations critical of the government.
The EU, which granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that the country meets the bloc’s recommendations, put its accession on hold and cut financial support in June following approval of the “foreign influence” law.
