US EditionEx-football player Kavelashvili becomes Georgia's president as ruling party consolidates power
- Mikheil Kavelashvili became president of Georgia on Saturday, as the ruling party tightened its grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia.
- Kavelashvili, 53, was the only candidate on the ballot and easily won the vote given the Georgian Dream party’s control of a 300-seat electoral college that replaced direct presidential elections in 2017.
- Georgian Dream retained control of parliament in the South Caucasus nation in an Oct. 26 election that the opposition alleges was rigged with Moscow’s help.
- Outgoing President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-EU critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, has positioned herself as a leader of the protest movement and has said she will remain president after her term ends on Monday.
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432 Articles
EU supporters are protesting against the outcome of the elections and the new presidential election. However, the number of participants is declining and the expected violent clash with the state authorities has not occurred.
Lawmakers in Georgia elect hardline critic of West as new president - West Hawaii Today
TBILISI — Georgian lawmakers elected Mikheil Kavelashvili, a hardline critic of the West, as president on Saturday, setting him up to replace a pro-Western incumbent amid major protests against the government over a halt to the country’s European Union accession talks last month.
Moscow. The ruling Georgian Dream party, which claims to have won the legislative elections of 26 October last in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, described as fraudulent by the opposition, yesterday appointed Mikhail Kavelashvili, a former professional footballer, 53 years old, considered an officialist politician who was committed to the extreme right speech.
With the election of a new president, Georgia's government has brought the last position in the power apparatus into line. Demonstrators and the current head of state are not prepared to accept this. The EU is considering sanctions.
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