Georgian Parliament Elects Mikheil Kavelashvili as President

Tbilisi (Eurotoday) – The Georgian parliament elected Mikheil Kavelashvili as president, amid significant protests against the administration over a halt to the country’s European Union accession discussions.

Georgian lawmakers on 14 Dec 2024 greenlighted a far-right former soccer player as the country’s next president. Mikheil Kavelashvili, 53 years old, is a former MP for the current ruling Georgian Dream group and played for the English soccer team Manchester City during the 1990s. Kavelashvili is a strong critic of Europe.

Mikheil Kavelashvili was chosen not by a national election, but in parliament by a direct poll of a 300-member electoral college formed of MPs and representatives of local government. Because the four main opposition parties have boycotted parliament since October’s argued election. In total, there were 225 voters present for the vote, and 224 approved Kavelashvili, who was the only candidate assigned. He will take the oath on December 29.

How are opposition parties responding to the presidential vote?

Tensions have been growing for months in Georgia, where critics blame the ruling Georgian Dream party for following increasingly autocratic, pro-Russia procedures in a turn away from the West that has hardened hopes for Georgia’s long-promised track to EU membership. Pro-EU Georgian nationals have protested outside the parliament building in Tbilisi every night since November 28.

Current President, Salome Zourabichvili has also joined the opposition protesters, and expressed the presidential vote causes “a mockery of democracy.” Before the vote, she pledged to remain in office despite the outcome, urging she holds the only honest institution left in Georgia.  “I’m here and will remain – standing together with everyone!” Zourabichvili expressed.

Moreover, critics have challenged Kavelashvili’s competence for the position, indicating his experience in sports rather than politics. He entered politics in 2016 after he was disqualified from pursuing the leadership of the Georgian Football Federation because he did not hold a higher education.