On Saturday, December 14th, members of the Georgian parliament elected Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former footballer and MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, as the country’s new president. The outgoing president Salome Zourabichvili, however, is refusing to step down as she believes Kavelashvili’s election to be “illegitimate,” further fueling the ongoing anti-government protests.
This was the first time the head of state was chosen by an electoral college made of MPs, and not by direct election after a set of constitutional reforms adopted back in 2017 gradually changed Georgia’s political system from semi-presidential to parliamentary. As in the majority of EU countries, the president’s role has been turned into a more symbolic one, with far less power than the prime minister’s.
Still, the president’s relative insignificance didn’t stop the opposition and protesters from denouncing Kavelashvili’s election as illegitimate due to alleged electoral fraud contributing to the ruling party’s current majority. Opposition parties boycotted the presidential election both by refusing to stand any other candidate and by not attending the vote.
The recent violent demonstrations began at the end of last month after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that the country would suspend the pursuit of EU accession until 2028 in protest of Brussels’ “shameful and offensive blackmail” and “woke overreach” in Georgia’s domestic affairs.
Previously, the EU has technically suspended membership talks over a law promoting “family values and protection of minors,” accusing Tbilisi of discriminating against LGBT individuals. The Georgian Dream government, therefore, hit back with its own move to signal that it won’t accept Brussels’s ideological blackmail.
Over the weekend, protesters gathered around the parliament, kicking around footballs and waving red cards to highlight the former Manchester City player’s unsuitability for the job. Opponents of Kavelashvili’s election often point out that he has no higher education or political expertise to speak of, other than being a well-known sports celebrity in the country. The political chaos is made worse by incumbent president Salome Zourabichvili’s insistence on remaining in office. Zourabichvili was elected in 2018 as a member of Georgian Dream but has since distanced herself from the party and played a leading role in this year’s protests, amplifying the voices who accuse the government of stealing the October elections.
Shortly before the vote on Saturday, Zourabichvili called the process “a mockery of democracy” and repeated her demands for a new parliamentary election.
Kobakhidze’s government, in turn, accuses her of being an “agent” of Western powers and facilitating a ‘color’ revolution in the country to serve their interests.
Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) present during the parliamentary elections could not find any substantial evidence for the elections being rigged.
Kavelashvili is due to assume office on December 29th and the protests are expected to continue in the meantime.
