Georgia Poised to Elect Former Soccer Star as President

Tbilisi (Eurotoday) – Georgia’s Parliament to elect ex-soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili president amid EU accession protests, opposition criticism.

Voting has started to appoint Georgia’s sixth President at a plenary session in the Parliament hall in Tbilisi, despite continuing demonstrations against the government’s conclusion to suspend European Union accession discussion until 2028. Under new regulations defined by the Constitution, the President is no longer selected directly, via universal suffrage. Instead, the country’s Central Election Commission has created an electoral college, consisting of 300 members, to select the President.

Before the commencement of the voting, Giorgi Kalandarishvili, the head of the Central Election Commission, raised the voting procedure to the members of the electoral college, as reported by blank” rel=”noopener”>Georgian media. The voting is available and the election process, which is to finish at 2 pm, is being functioned in alphabetical order.

The electoral college comprises 150 members of the Parliament, while the other 150 involve 20 associates from the Supreme Council of the Abkhazia area, 21 from the Supreme Council of the Adjara area, and 109 assembled from representatives of regional self-government bodies. 

Why is Mikheil Kavelashvili criticized by the opposition?

Georgian Dream designated Mikheil Kavelashvili bullied by the opposition for lacking higher education. He was a player in the Premier League for Manchester City and in many clubs in the Swiss Super League. He was selected to Parliament in 2016 on the Georgian Dream token and in 2022 co-founded the People’s Power political campaign, which was associated with the Georgian Dream and became understood for its powerful anti-Western rhetoric.

An ex-soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili is set to become president of Georgia as the ruling group Georgian Dream party maintained control of Parliament in the South Caucasus nation by succeeding 89 of 150 votes on Oct. 26.

Critics have blamed the Georgian Dream founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shady billionaire who earned his fortune in Russia — for becoming increasingly severe and tilted toward Moscow, charges the ruling party has denied. The party recently moved through laws similar to those utilised by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.