Georgia chooses far right loyalist as its new president

Georgia chooses far right loyalist as its new president

Mikheil Kavelashvili, known for his vehement anti-West diatribes, is the leader for a five-year term; Opposition denounces the poll as ‘illegitimate’; sitting President Zurabishvili refuses to step down.

Georgia’s ruling party on Saturday installed a far-right loyalist as President in a controversial election process, amid a deepening constitutional crisis and weeks of mass pro-EU protests.

The Black Sea nation has been in turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in contested October parliamentary elections. Its decision last month to delay European Union membership talks ignited a fresh wave of mass rallies.

An electoral college, controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party and boycotted by the Opposition, elected Mikheil Kavelashvili with 224 votes as the country’s next figurehead leader for a five-year term, central election commission chair Giorgi Kalandarishvili said.

The Opposition has denounced Saturday’s election as “illegitimate” and said the sitting President, Salome Zurabishvili remains the country’s sole legitimate leader.

Pro-Western Zurabishvili — who is at loggerheads with Georgian Dream — has refused to step down and is demanding new parliamentary elections, paving the way for a constitutional showdown.

On Saturday morning, protesters began gathering outside the Parliament building — which was cordoned off by police — ahead of a rally scheduled for the evening.

A former diplomat, Ms. Zurabishvili is a hugely popular figure among protesters, who view her as a beacon of Georgia’s European aspirations.

Ahead of Saturday’s vote, Ms. Zurabishvili called it “a parody. It will be an event entirely devoid of legitimacy, unconstitutional and illegitimate,” she told a press conference.

Opposition groups accuse Georgian Dream of rigging the October 26 parliamentary vote, backsliding on democracy and moving Tbilisi closer to Russia — all at the expense of the Caucasus nation’s constitutionally mandated bid to join the EU.

Mr. Kavelashvili, 53 — the sole candidate for the largely ceremonial Presidential post — is known for his vehement anti-West diatribes and opposition to LGBTQ rights.

Georgian Dream scrappeddirect Presidential elections in 2017.

With Ms. Zurabishvili refusing to leave office, Opposition lawmakers boycotting Parliament, and protests showing no signs of abating, the legitimacy of Mr. Kavelashvili’s election has been undermined from the outset.

On Friday, Amnesty International said protesters had faced “brutal dispersal tactics, arbitrary detention and torture”. There have also been raids on the offices of Opposition parties and arrests of their leaders.

Washington has imposed fresh sanctions on Georgian officials, barring entry for around 20 people accused of “undermining democracy in Georgia”, including ministers and parliamentarians.