Western Critic Chosen as New President of Georgia by Lawmakers

Lawmakers in Georgia on Dec. 14 elected Mikheil Kavelashvili, considered a hardline critic of the West, as their new president. The move replaces a pro-Western incumbent during a time of protests over the government halting its talks of accession to the European Union (EU) in November.

Kavelashvili is a former professional soccer player and has espoused strongly anti-Western views, including allegations that Western intelligence agencies are positioning to push Georgia into a war with Russia. Georgia was under Russian rule for 200 years until 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union.

He is a leader of the People’s Power, a splinter faction of the ruling Georgian Dream party that is considered anti-Western, and is a co-author of a law regarding “foreign agents” requiring any organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding abroad to register foreign influence agents while imposing strict fines for any violations.

Following the presidential vote, hundreds of protesters amassed outside Parliament on Saturday, with some playing soccer in the streets or waving red cards at the Parliament building in a reference to Kavelashvili’s former soccer career.

Frustration has brewed in the country after the Georgian Dream moved in late November to halt the country’s EU accession until 2028, as opinion polls have shown that joining the EU remains popular. The halt freezes a longtime goal enshrined in Georgia’s constitution.

A college of electors consisting of members of Parliament and local government representatives chooses the president of Georgia. A total of 224 electors of the 225 present voted for Kavelashvili, as he was the only candidate nominated.

Georgian opposition parties have been boycotting Parliament following an election in October, in which Georgian Dream earned nearly 54 percent of the vote in the official results. The opposition alleged that the results were fraudulent.

Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire, honorary chairman of Georgian Dream, and former prime minister who is seen as paramount leader in Georgia and supports strengthening ties with Russia—which polls have shown is unpopular among many Georgians—nominated Kavelashvili for the presidency in November. The role is mostly ceremonial.

Salome Zourabichvili, Georgia’s outgoing president, is pro-EU and a critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party. She has led the protest movement and suggested she would remain president after the end of her term. Zourabichvili considers Georgia’s Parliament illegitimate after alleging fraud in its October election.

She said Kavelashvili’s election was a “mockery of democracy” in a post on X before the vote.

Opposition parties have maintained they will view Zourabichvili as Georgia’s legitimate president even following Kavelashvili’s Dec. 29 inauguration.

For decades, Georgia has been viewed as one of the most pro-Western and democratic nations to emerge from the Soviet Union’s successor states. Relations with the West, however, have diminished this year following the ruling Georgia Dream’s laws on foreign agents and LGBT rights, which have angered some critics.

Reuters contributed to this report.