Georgians protest as pro-Russian party locks in ex-footballer as president

Streets of central Tbilisi were full of anti-government protesters as the pro-Russian Georgian Dream party consolidated its position by claiming to elect former football player Mikheil Kavelashvili as the country’s new president.

Kavelashvili, a former player for Manchester City and other football clubs in Europe, was the only candidate. He is meant to replace pro-EU Salome Zourabichvili who heavily criticized the Georgian Dream party, the pro-Russian governing party.

The election took place through an electoral college dominated by Georgian Dream. The opposition did not put forward any candidates because they boycotted the polling, saying the process was rigged from the start.

Thrusting Kavelashvili — who has no higher eduction and is anti-Western despite his soccer carreer there — into the presidency “was a farce,” Lithuanian MEP Rasa Juknevičienė said on X. She visited Georgia this Thursday with a delegation from the European Parliament. “Just like in Russia, Belarus, and other autocracies.”

Local media report that demonstrators stood outside the parliament, voicing their protest that the usual public vote, last held in 2018, was replaced by the electoral college method and that Georgian Dream’s dominance in the parliament was based on unfair parliamentary elections in late October.

Georgia has been experiencing political upheaval for months, including when Georgian Dream of Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze won the contested elections. Zourabichvili called the election “fraudulent.”

The government has since pulled the country out of the accession process to the European Union, causing massive demonstrations in Tbilisi and other cities. Demonstrators and activists have experienced violence, arbitrary arrests and other intimidation tactics.

“We urge Georgian Dream to de-escalate and put an end to this environment that comes with severe costs for the Georgian people,” the EU said on Tuesday, calling for respect of the wishes of the Georgian people to become members of the bloc. Ukraine and several EU countries put sanctions on the Georgian government this month.

Kobakhidze claimed on Saturday his government is “ready to do anything to make Georgia a member” of the EU.

Georgian Dream also introduced a Russia-style foreign agents law which sparked protests earlier in 2024 and sharp rebukes from Zourabichvili.