As the new president is unveiled, many Georgians are in uproar and fear regression from European values. Credit: TranmereKev, Twitter
Former Premier League striker Mikheil Kavelashvili’s ‘parody’ appointment as new president of Georgia this month has spared mass outrage amongst many citizens of the intercontinental nation, igniting fears of an anti-western society taking hold and ties with Russia ‘reset’.
Easily winning the vote in December, with a helping hand from his party, Georgian Dream, which controls a 300 seat electoral college that was substituted with direct presidential elections back in 2017, furious members of the public fear a regressing nation.
Salome Zourabichvili, the former president of Georgia, still refuses to resign from her official post after losing the election, claiming “we won the elections. The pro-european forces won the elections. The fact they were stolen is a different story”. There have been circulating rumours implying Georgian Dream took back control of the parliament with the aid of Moscow, and Zourabichvili spearheads those claims.
Pro-western parties flocked in great numbers to boycott the post-election parliamentary procedures and demanded the ballot to be re-run. Parties and critics alike have accused the presidential party Georgian Dream of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Russia – accusations it has denied to be true.
The party imposed similar rules to the Kremlin to clamp down on freedom of speech rules and LGBTQ+ rights, largely going away from where much of Europe is heading. Last month Georgian Dream made the decision to suspend talks on their country’s bid to join the EU, only fuelling the fire further, initiating mass protests in Tbilisi, the country’s capital.
As protesters gathered in their thousands outside of the parliament grounds this month, waving red cards in the air, former leader Zourabichvili exclaimed she was ‘legitimate’, inciting that the current ruling party fall shy of maintaining this trait. She informed she would evict her palace grounds, stating “this presidential residence was a symbol as long as there was a president here who was legitimate. I bring legitimacy with me”.
In an official statement addressed to the Georgian public, newly elected president Kavelashvili promised to be “everyone’s president, regardless of whether they like me or not”. He wants the nation to give his full backing and share his views on “mutual respect, and the future we should build together”. It is widely stated that Kavelashvili holds anti-western, even conspiratorial views.
With an election shrouded in controversy, the nation of Georgia appears to be divided. Repressive laws introduced by new governments are nothing new in our current climate, so the population is encouraged to remain conscious of changes in the world around them, and continue to trust in what they believe is right.
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