By Felix Mild
TBILISI (Reuters) -Georgian lawmakers elected Mikheil Kavelashvili, a hardline critic of the West, as president on Saturday, setting him as much as change a pro-Western incumbent amid main protests in opposition to the federal government over a halt to the nation’s European Union accession talks final month.
The ruling Georgian Dream occasion’s transfer to freeze the EU accession course of till 2028, abruptly halting a long-standing nationwide aim that’s written into the nation’s structure, has provoked widespread anger in Georgia, the place opinion polls present that in search of EU membership is overwhelmingly well-liked.
Kavelashvili, a former skilled soccer participant, has strongly anti-Western, typically conspiratorial views. In public speeches this yr, he has repeatedly alleged that Western intelligence companies are in search of to drive Georgia into warfare with Russia, which dominated Georgia for 200 years till 1991.
Lots of of protesters gathered in gentle snowfall outdoors parliament forward of the presidential vote. Some performed soccer on the street outdoors and waved pink playing cards on the parliament constructing, a mocking reference to Kavelashvili’s sporting profession.
Protester Vezi Kokhodze described the vote as “treason” in opposition to what he mentioned was Georgians’ need to combine with the West.
“Today’s election represents the clear wish of the system to bring Georgia back to its Soviet roots,” he mentioned.
Georgian presidents are picked by a university of electors composed of MPs and representatives of native authorities. Of 225 electors current, 224 voted for Kavelashvili, who was the one candidate nominated.
All opposition events have boycotted parliament since an October election wherein official outcomes gave Georgian Dream virtually 54% of the vote, however which the opposition say was fraudulent.
Kavelashvili was nominated for the principally ceremonial presidency final month by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire ex-prime minister who’s extensively seen because the nation’s paramount chief and has moved to deepen ties with neighbouring Russia, which polls present many Georgians dislike.
Kavelashvili is a pacesetter of Folks’s Energy, an anti-Western splinter group of the ruling occasion, and was a co-author of a legislation on “foreign agents” that requires organisations receiving greater than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as brokers of international affect, and imposes heavy fines for violations.
Outgoing President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-EU critic of the ruling Georgian Dream occasion, has positioned herself as a pacesetter of the protest motion and has mentioned she is going to stay president after her time period ends. She considers parliament illegitimate on account of alleged fraud within the October election.
In a submit on X shortly earlier than the vote, Zourabichvili mentioned her successor’s election represented “a mockery of democracy”.
Opposition events have mentioned they may proceed to treat Zourabichvili because the professional president, even after Kavelashvili is inaugurated on Dec. 29.
At a briefing after the vote, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze congratulated Kavelashvili, and referred to the outgoing president as an “agent” of unspecified international powers.
SOURING RELATIONS WITH WEST
Georgia had been seen for many years as one of the crucial pro-Western and democratic of the Soviet Union’s successor states, however relations with the West have soured this yr, with Georgian Dream forcing via legal guidelines on international brokers and LGBT rights that critics say are Russian-inspired and draconian.
Western international locations have raised the alarm at Georgia’s obvious international coverage pivot and authoritarian drift, with the EU threatening sanctions over a crackdown on protests that has seen lots of arrested.
Because the outbreak of the warfare in Ukraine, Georgian Dream has moved to enhance ties with Russia, which backs two breakaway Georgian areas and defeated Georgia in a five-day warfare in 2008.
Tens of 1000’s of protesters have rallied outdoors parliament nightly for greater than two weeks. Some have hurled fireworks at police, who’ve used water cannon and tear fuel to interrupt up demonstrations.
The federal government has repeatedly mentioned the protests signify an try to stage a pro-EU revolution and a violent seizure of energy.
Georgia’s inside ministry has mentioned that greater than 150 officers have been injured in the course of the protests.
