The new President of Georgia Mikheil Kavelashvili was sworn in on Sunday morning. Previous President Salome Zurabishvili left the presidential palace, but has said he still considers himself the president of Georgia. According to the pro-European politician, the electoral college that chose the pro-Russian Kavelashvili is not legitimate.
In the run-up to the inauguration of the new president, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Georgia to protest against the swearing-in. Kavelashvili, a former Manchester City footballer, was elected president on December 14. The politician is known as pro-Russian and is, among other things, very critical of LGBTI rights.
Through a change in the Constitution, Kavelashvili became the first president elected by an electoral college and not by the Georgian people. This electoral college mainly consisted of party members of The Georgian Dream. Kavelashvili was a former member of the ruling party Georgian Dream, and then founded another party called People’s Power.
Fraud upon fraud
There have been major political protests in Georgia since the parliamentary elections in October. When the Georgian Dream party unexpectedly won the elections, there was immediate talk of fraud by the opposition. Georgian Dream has stopped EU accession talks and wants to postpone Georgia’s accession to the European Union until at least 2028.
There is talk of fraud in the parliamentary elections not only within Georgia’s opposition. Independent observers also believe that it is highly likely that the election results were tampered with. The European Parliament also wants the candidate member of the EU to organize parliamentary elections again within a year.