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Ex Premier League soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili was elected president Georgiareplacing the pro-Western current president.
Mr. Kavelashvili he has anti-Western and often conspiratorial views, having previously claimed that Western intelligence agencies are trying to push through Georgia into war with Russiaits ruler for two centuries until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
He was a striker for Manchester City between 1996 and 1997, before playing for a number of clubs in the Swiss Super League.
He was elected to parliament for the first time in 2016 for the Georgian Dream party – which has been trying to deepen ties with Russia since started the war in Ukraine – and in November 2024, he was elected as its presidential candidate.
Mr Kavelashvili’s election comes after huge protests against the government led by the Georgian Dream party, after it moved to freeze EU accession – a long-standing goal enshrined in the country’s constitution – until 2028.
The move sparked outrage in Georgia, where the quest for EU membership is extremely popular, according to opinion polls. But the former footballer eased his way to the presidency, as the Georgian Dream party controlled the 300-seat electoral college that replaced direct presidential elections in 2017.
Protesters gathered outside the Georgian parliament building in the capital Tbilisi, with many playing football and mockingly waving red cards at the building in reference to Mr Kavelashvili’s football career.
One protester, Vezi Kokhodze, said the vote was a “treason” given the desire of the Georgian population to move closer to the West. He told the Reuters news agency: “Today’s election represents a clear desire of the system to return Georgia to its Soviet roots.”
The electoral college that chooses the Georgian president – a largely ceremonial function – is made up of MPs and representatives of local authorities – 224 of the 225 electors present voted for Mr Kavelashvili, the only candidate nominated.
Opposition parties have boycotted Georgia’s parliament since elections in October in which Georgian Dream won nearly 54 percent of the vote, but opposition parties denounced them as fraudulent.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered every night in front of the parliament for more than two weeks. Fireworks were thrown at the police, who broke up the demonstration with water cannons and tear gas. The government claims that the protests are an attempt to stage a pro-European revolution with the aim of a violent takeover.
It is often seen that the real power in Georgia is held by Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire former prime minister who nominated Kavelashvili for the presidency.
Mr. Kavelashvili was involved in writing a law that would require organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence — similar to a Russian law that discredits people critical of Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Outgoing pro-EU president Salome Zourabichvili, a critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, described the election of a new president as “a mockery of democracy”. She has positioned herself as the leader of the protest movement and says she will remain president after her mandate expires, as she believes the parliament is illegitimate.
Opposition parties say they will consider Ms. Zurabichvili the legitimate president even after Mr. Kavelashvili is inaugurated on December 29.