Georgia's turmoil deepens as ex-footballer named president

A former Manchester City footballer has been appointed president by Georgia’s disputed parliament, after 17 days of pro-EU protests that have swept this country’s towns and cities.

Mikheil Kavelashvili, now 53, is a former MP from the increasingly authoritarian ruling Georgian Dream party and was the only candidate for the job.

On Saturday, 224 out of 225 members of Georgia’s electoral college voted for him.

The four main opposition groups have rejected Kavelashvili and have boycotted parliament, insisting that the elections held in October were rigged.

Large crowds of protesters, facing freezing temperatures, gathered outside parliament from the early hours of Saturday morning ahead of the vote.

Georgia’s outgoing pro-Western president, Salome Zourabichvili, has condemned Kavelashvili’s election as a travesty, insisting she holds Georgia’s only remaining legitimate institution.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has accused Zourabichvili of trying to harm Georgia’s interests, emphasising that when her term of office ends on 29 December, she will have to retire.

“We have very strong state institutions, so we certainly have no difficulty in bringing the situation under full control,” he was quoted as saying on Friday.

Party colleague Nino Tsilosani told reporters that Zourabichvili was no longer president in the eyes of the public.

Georgia is a parliamentary democracy with the president the head of state, and the prime minister the head of Parliament.

Protests against Georgian Dream began immediately after the October elections but they burst into life on 28 November when the government announced it was putting EU accession negotiations on hold until 2028.

An overwhelming majority of Georgians back the country’s path to the European Union and it is part of the constitution.

Every night, the main avenue outside parliament fills with protesters draped in EU flags, demanding new elections.

The night before the vote, the capital Tbilisi was convulsed by pop-up protests involving IT specialists, public sector workers, creative industry professionals, actors and lawyers.

“We are standing here to create a legal state once and for all, to respect the provisions of the constitution and human rights,” said lawyer Davit Kikaleishvili, 47.

Kavelashvili is a founder of the People’s Power party, known for being the main voice for anti-Western propaganda in Georgia.

He has accused opposition parties of acting as a “fifth column” directed from abroad, and described President Zourabichvili as a “chief agent”.

Kavelashvili moved into politics after he was disqualified from seeking the leadership of the Georgian football federation because he lacked the qualifications.

Although his party ran alongside Georgian Dream in the October elections, it has now decided to act in parliament as a “healthy opposition”, to fill the place of the “so-called radical opposition funded by foreign forces”.

A People’s Power party MP, Guram Macharashvili, who announced on 13 December that his faction would leave the ruling parliamentary majority, told the BBC that what was happening in the country was an “artificially created crisis characterised by the influence of foreign powers”.

Macharashvili and Kavelashvili are the architects of Georgia’s controversial “foreign agents” law, seen by the country’s opposition as Russian-style legislation.

When asked what “healthy opposition” means, Macharashvili said: “Opposition does not necessarily mean opposition on all issues, it does not mean only cooperation with foreigners. It means competition with the ruling party to make better proposals on what’s best for Georgia’s future.”

Georgian Dream, founded by billionaire businessman and former Georgian PM Bidzina Ivanishvili, has been accused of dragging the country back into Russia’s sphere of influence.

Both the EU and US have condemned the government for democratic backsliding and more than 460 people have been detained across Georgia over the past two weeks, according to Transparency International.

More than 300 have been ill-treated or tortured, the organisation says, including dozens of people from Georgian media. Last weekend, thugs were filmed attacking a TV reporter and cameraman.

The EU has condemned the “brutal, unlawful force from the police” and foreign ministers are due to consider measures against the government when they meet on Monday.

The US state department has already imposed visa restrictions on Georgian officials, including government ministers and police.

Protesters have called on the international community to impose sanctions on top government officials as well as Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s most powerful man.

Pro-government groups have also waged a campaign of harassment towards civil society activists, beating them outside homes, and carrying out arbitrary arrests.

“There is systematic torture, inhuman and degrading treatment of citizens,” said former public rights defender Nino Lomjaria.

Theatre workers who joined the protests on Friday chanted: “The police are everywhere, justice is nowhere.”