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Georgia's ruling party, Georgian Dream on Saturday appointed Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former footballer turned far-right politician, as the country's new president, Al Jazeera reported.
This comes amid ongoing political turmoil following the 'controversial' elections in October. The polls were marred by reports from observers citing incidents of bribery and double voting. Kavelashvili was the sole candidate in the presidential vote, which took place on Saturday. The election was held for a 300-seat electoral college instead of a direct vote by the people, following constitutional changes implemented by the Georgian Dream party seven years ago. The opposition in Georgia announced a boycott of parliament following widespread protests over the results of the legislative elections held on October 26, the report added. President Salome Zurabichvili, who was elected by popular vote six years ago and has declared the current legislature "unconstitutional", told Al Jazeera that the country needed a "legitimate president" voted by the people, rather than "a parliament that has not received legitimacy". "The sense in the population is that we are at a real turning point. Either this struggle succeeds ...to resist this or we will enter into a regime that will be more or less the Russian regime of [Vladimir] Putin," she said. According to the report, hundreds of protesters gathered outside Georgia's parliament in light snowfall ahead of the presidential vote. Some protesters played soccer in the street and waved red cards at the parliament building, mocking the newly appointed president, Mikheil Kavelashvili, due to his former career as a footballer. Notably, the protests have been going on every night since the government announced it would freeze talks on European Union accession until 2028. In response, police have used tear gas and water cannons in a violent crackdown, resulting in over 400 arrests. A striker for Manchester City in the mid-1990s who entered politics in 2016, Kavelashvili and two other Georgian Dream parliamentarians set up a splinter group called People's Power in 2022. People's Power became known for its anti-Western position, Al Jazeera reported. (ANI)
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