Georgia’s crisis escalates as former footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili is elected president

The former Manchester City footballer has been elected president by Georgia’s opposition parliament, after 17 days of pro-EU protests that have hit the country’s towns and cities.

Mikheil Kavelashvili, now 53, was a former member of parliament in the growing ruling party Georgian Dream and was the only candidate for the job.

On Saturday, 224 of the 225 members of Georgia’s electoral college voted for him.

Four opposition parties dismissed Kavelashvili and boycotted parliament, insisting that the elections held in October were invalid.

Large crowds of protesters, braving the cold, gathered outside parliament since early Saturday morning ahead of the vote.

Georgia’s pro-Western outgoing president, Salome Zourabichvili, denounced Kavelashvili’s election as a scandal, insisting that he is in charge of Georgia’s only legitimate institution left.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze accused Zourabichvili of trying to harm Georgia’s interests, stressing that when his term ends on December 29, he will have to retire.

“We have very strong state institutions, so we have no difficulty in fully controlling the situation,” he was quoted as saying on Friday.

His teammate Nino Tsilosani told reporters that Zourabichvili is no longer the president in the eyes of the public.

Georgia is a parliamentary democracy with the president as the head of state, and the prime minister as the head of Parliament.

Protests against the Georgian Dream began immediately after the October elections but came to life on 28 November when the government announced it would suspend EU accession talks until 2028.

The majority of Georgians back the country’s path to the European Union and are part of the constitution.

Every night, the main street outside the parliament is filled with protesters wearing EU flags, demanding new elections.

On the eve of the vote, the capital Tbilisi was disrupted by violent demonstrations involving IT professionals, public sector workers, creative industry professionals, actors and lawyers.

“We are here to build a legitimate state forever, to respect the provisions of the constitution and human rights,” said lawyer Davit Kikaleishvili, 47.

Kavelashvili is the founder of the People’s Power party, known for being the main voice of anti-Western propaganda in Georgia.

He accused the opposition of acting as a “fifth column” directed abroad, and described President Zourabichvili as “the main agent”.

Kavelashvili entered politics after he was rejected from seeking the leadership of the Georgian football association because he did not have a degree.

Although his party ran together with Georgian Dream in the October elections, it has now decided to work in parliament as a “healthy opposition”, to fill the place of “the so-called radical opposition supported by foreign forces”.

People’s Power MP Guram Macharashvili, who announced on December 13 that his party will leave the ruling majority in parliament, told the BBC that what is happening in the country is “a self-inflicted disaster that appears due to foreign influence”.

Macharashvili and Kavelashvili are the architects of Georgia’s “foreign agents” law, which the country’s opponents see as a Russian-style law.

When asked what “healthy opposition” means, Macharashvili said: “Opposition does not mean opposition to all issues, it just means cooperation with outsiders.” “

Georgian Dream, founded by billionaire businessman and former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, is accused of dragging the country into Russia’s sphere of influence.

The EU and the US have criticized the government for rolling back democracy and more than 460 people have been arrested across Georgia in the past two weeks, according to Transparency International.

More than 300 have been ill-treated or tortured, the organization said, including dozens of people from the Georgian media. Last weekend, criminals were filmed attacking a TV reporter and cameraman.

I The EU has condemned it The “brutal, illegal power of the police” and the foreign minister must consider measures against the government when they meet on Monday.

I The US state department has already imposed visa restrictions to Georgian officials, including government ministers and the police.

Protesters called on the international community to impose sanctions on government officials and Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s most powerful man.

Pro-government groups also carried out a campaign of harassment against civil society activists, beating them outside their homes, and arresting them arbitrarily.

“There is organized torture, inhuman treatment and humiliation of civilians,” said former human rights defender Nino Lomjaria.

The theater workers who joined the protest on Friday chanted: “Police are everywhere, justice is nowhere.”