{"id":414414,"date":"2024-12-16T13:17:18","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T12:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/12\/16\/georgia-mikheil-kavelashvili-presidente\/"},"modified":"2024-12-16T20:04:40","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T19:04:40","slug":"georgia-mikheil-kavelashvili-has-been-elected-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/12\/16\/georgia-mikheil-kavelashvili-has-been-elected-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia: Mikheil Kavelashvili has been elected president"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels–There were no twists and turns last Saturday (Dec. 14) for the election of the next president of Georgia.<\/strong> The post went to former soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili,<\/strong> the only candidate supported by the ruling party, Georgian Dream<\/strong>. The opposition parties boycotted the process but did not have the numbers to make an impact. The incumbent head of state, the pro-European Salom\u00e9 Zourabichvili<\/strong>, has refused to recognize the legitimacy of the election<\/strong> of her successor. While protests have been going on unabated for more than two weeks, the temperature of the political-institutional confrontation<\/strong> in the Caucasian country continues to rise.<\/p>\n

Kavelashvili elected president<\/h3>\n

All as expected:\u00a0former soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili<\/strong>, candidate of the ultranationalist Power of the People<\/strong> party (a faction\u00a0of Georgian Dream whose rhetoric is fiercely anti-Western and especially anti-US), was elected<\/a> on Saturday by the Electoral College with 224 votes in favor out of the total 300 seats<\/strong> comprising the body, which consists of all 150 deputies from Tbilisi plus as many representatives of the territories and local governments. The College, introduced by the constitutional reform of 2017<\/strong> (previously, the election of the head of state was by direct vote of the citizens), is dominated by the Georgian Dream, just like the hemicycle. The opposition forces are boycotting the work of both institutions,<\/strong> but they do not have the numbers to block the ongoing processes.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the 53-year-old former national team player\u00a0<\/strong>was the only candidate<\/a> to succeed the incumbent president of the Republic, the pro-European Salom\u00e9 Zourabichvili<\/strong>, which made his appointment a mere formality. The political point has remained the same for months:\u00a0With its actions (Kavelashvili’s nomination is only the latest in chronological order), the party of Premier Irakli Kobakhidze<\/strong> is bringing the Caucasian country further away\u00a0from the EU <\/strong>and ever closer to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Georgia<\/a>
Georgian premier Irakli Kobakhidze and the outgoing president of the republic Salom\u00e9 Zourabichvili (photo: Irakli Gedenidze \/ Pool \/ Afp)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Inclined plane<\/h3>\n

The Kremlin is being accused of meddling in Georgian politics<\/strong>, starting with the interference in the contested election<\/a> last Oct. 26, which saw the ruling party retain power with 54 percent of the vote (according to official data),\u00a0gaining its fourth victory in a row in the polls<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So the severe\u00a0political crisis continues to deepen, which is causing Tbilisi to slide a dangerous inclined plane along the two parallel tracks of street protests<\/strong> – uninterrupted since the executive\u00a0announced<\/a>,\u00a0on Nov. 28, the halt of EU accession negotiations until 2028\u00a0– and the head-on\u00a0institutional clash between majority and opposition<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Zourabichvili, whose term will formally expire on Dec. 29, has repeatedly said<\/a>\u00a0that considering the new assembly (and, consequently, the Electoral College) illegitimate, she\u00a0does not intend to leave her post at the end of the month<\/strong>. The outgoing head of state defined<\/a> Kavelashvili<\/strong>‘s election — which took place exactly one year after Georgia was granted candidate-country status<\/i> by Brussels — a “mockery of democracy<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

\n

#GeorgiaProtests<\/a> one year ago, Georgia received the Candidate status, today a Central Committee like \u00ab Parliament \u00bb \u00ab elects \u00bb a \u00ab one and only \u00bb candidate in a mockery of democracy.
\nThat will never prevent Georgia to pursue its european path and democratic future!<\/p>\n

– Salome Zourabichvili (@Zourabichvili_S) December 14, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reactions to the vote<\/h3>\n

Prime Minister Kobakhidze congratulated<\/a>\u00a0Kavelashvili, stressing that “he will make a very significant contribution to strengthening the Georgian state and our sovereignty, as well as to reducing radicalization and so-called polarization<\/strong> in the country.” The prime minister criticized Zourabichvili, claiming that the current president has used her powers “as a means to divide society”\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0“artificially weaken our constitutional order” with the clandestine help of “outside forces,”<\/strong> referring to Tbilisi’s Western partners with whom the head of state continues to keep in touch.<\/p>\n

From the opposition, Georgia Strong leader Mamuka Khazaradze<\/strong> declared that “any action of the illegitimate government<\/strong>, including the appointment of the so-called president, is illegal<\/strong> and is a provocation against its\u00a0citizens.” For Sopo Japardize<\/strong> of the UNM party leadership, the country is witnessing “a circus,<\/strong>” and the proclamation of an “illegitimate president” by an “illegitimate government” represents “an insult to the Georgian people<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

European inaction<\/h3>\n

From Brussels, as usual, there is a struggle to take a quick and decisive stand. Hungary’s Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/strong> already said<\/a> he would stand in the way\u00a0<\/strong>should the 27 member states\u00a0discuss imposing sanctions on the Georgian Dream leadership<\/strong>, proving again to be Putin’s best friend in the Union<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The violence against protesters\u00a0<\/strong>– which does not\u00a0spare journalists and leaders of the parliamentary opposition and which the National\u00a0Civic Ombudsman\u00a0compared<\/a> to acts of torture<\/strong>\u00a0– is increasingly pressuring European chancelleries to adopt a tougher line against the Tbilisi government<\/strong> and to give more\u00a0support to\u00a0the civilian population.<\/p>\n

\"Kaja<\/a>
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Policy and Common Security Kaja Kallas (photo: European Union)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Kaja Kallas<\/strong>, said this morning (Dec. 16) on the sidelines of the ongoing Foreign Affairs Council<\/strong> in Brussels that the situation “is not going in the right direction” and that ministers of the member states will discuss “what we can do on the European side,” reiterating that the two options currently on the table are<\/strong> sanctions and limiting the visa liberalization regime<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The 12-star diplomacy chief stressed that “the list of people” to be sanctioned “has already been proposed and we are discussing it,”<\/strong> admitting, however, that “everyone has to agree and we are not there yet.” For now, the Baltic States<\/strong> unilaterally imposed<\/a>\u00a0restrictive measures on several people<\/strong> connected to the Georgian executive, including Prime Minister Kobakhidze. As for Zourabichvili’s fate, Kallas merely noted that “the president is in office until Dec. 29, and many things could still happen<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The former soccer player, the only candidate to replace the outgoing head of state, Salome Zourabichvili, was nominated by an Electoral College dominated by the ruling Georgian Dream party. Opposition forces continue to boycott the national political process, but the executive remains steadfast while street demonstrations do not subside<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":414379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[26327,27451,27454,26964,29830,27910],"class_list":["post-414414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-georgia-and","tag-dream-georgian-en","tag-irakli-kobakhidzeat","tag-mikheil-kavelashvili-en","tag-salome-zourabichvili-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414414"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":414538,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414414\/revisions\/414538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}