Georgian lawmakers have elected Mikheil Kavelashvili, a pro-Russia, hardline critic of the west, as the country’s new president.
Kavelashvili, a former professional football player, has strong anti-western views. In public speeches this year, he has repeatedly alleged that western intelligence agencies are seeking to drive Georgia into war with Russia.
Georgian presidents are picked by a college of electors composed of MPs and representatives of local government. Of 225 electors present, 224 voted for Kavelashvili, who was the only candidate nominated.
The Black Sea nation has been in turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in contested parliamentary elections in October.
Its decision last month to delay EU membership talks ignited a fresh wave of mass rallies.
The opposition has denounced Saturday’s election as “illegitimate” and said the sitting president, Salome Zourabichvili, remains the country’s sole legitimate leader.
Mikheil Kavelashvili reacts after being elected as Georgian's new president at the parliament in Tbilisi. Photograph: Vano Shlamov/AFP/Getty Images
Pro-western Zourabishvili – who is at loggerheads with Georgian Dream – has refused to step down and is demanding new parliamentary elections, paving the way for a constitutional showdown.
On Saturday morning, protesters began gathering outside the parliament building, which was cordoned off by police forces.
Demonstrators shared tea to keep warm on the frosty morning, with water cannon parked nearby, an AFP reporter witnessed.
“Georgia never loses its sense of humour, celebrating the election of a footballer as president,” Zurabishvili wrote on social media.
She shared video footage of protesters playing football in the snow – a clear jab at Kavelashvili.
One of the protesters, 40-year-old Natia Apkhazava, said she had arrived early “to protect our European future”.
“Our [parliamentary] election was rigged. We need new elections,” she said.
“We have been protesting here for 16 days … and we’ll keep fighting for our European future.”
Protests are scheduled to take place at a dozen of different locations in Tbilisi.
Thousands of pro-EU demonstrators filled the streets of the capital Tbilisi on Friday, before gathering outside parliament for the 16th consecutive day.
A former diplomat, Zourabishvili is a hugely popular figure among protesters, who view her as a beacon of Georgia’s European aspirations.
“What will happen in parliament tomorrow is a parody. It will be an event entirely devoid of legitimacy, unconstitutional and illegitimate,” Zourabishvili told a press conference on Friday.
Opposition groups accuse Georgian Dream of rigging the 26 October parliamentary vote, backsliding on democracy and moving Tbilisi closer to Russia – all at the expense of the Caucasus nation’s constitutionally mandated efforts to join the EU.
Kavelashvili, 53 – the sole candidate for the largely ceremonial post – is known for his vehement anti-west diatribes and opposition to LGBTQ rights.
Georgian Dream scrapped direct presidential elections in 2017.
With Zourabishvili refusing to leave office, opposition lawmakers boycotting parliament and protests showing no signs of abating, Kavelashvili’s presidency is likely to be undermined from the onset.
One author of Georgia’s constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze, has argued that all decisions by the new parliament are void.
This is because it ratified the mandates of newly elected lawmakers before the outcome of a court case filed by the incumbent president contesting the elections, he explained.
“Georgia is facing an unprecedented constitutional crisis,” Khmaladze said.
It remains unclear how the government will react to Zourabishvili’s refusal to step down after her successor is inaugurated on 29 December.
Police have fired teargas and water cannon during more than two weeks of demonstrations and arrested more than 400 protesters, according to the Social Justice Centre NGO.
On Friday, Amnesty International said protesters had faced “brutal dispersal tactics, arbitrary detention and torture”.
There have also been raids on the offices of opposition parties and arrests of their leaders.
As international condemnation of the police crackdown mounted, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, told Georgians their “European dream must not be extinguished”.
“We are by your side in supporting your European and democratic aspirations,” he said in a video address.
Earlier this week, Macron called the Georgian Dream founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili – the tycoon widely considered to be Georgia’s real power broker.
His decision to call Ivanishvili – rather than the prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze – is indicative of the west’s hesitancy to recognise the legitimacy of Georgian Dream’s new government.
Washington has also imposed fresh sanctions on Georgian officials, barring visas for about 20 people accused of “undermining democracy in Georgia”, including ministers and parliamentarians.
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