Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former lawmaker and soccer star, was inaugurated as Georgia's president on Sunday despite widespread criticism and protests against his election. Opposition parties boycotted the process, and citizens took to the streets to express their disapproval of the government's decision to delay Georgia's EU membership bid.
Mikheil Kavelashvili was inaugurated as president of Georgia on Sunday, following a tumultuous election period marked by further divisions between pro-Russian and pro-EU factions of the former Soviet state. Kavelashvili, 53 – an ex-lawmaker for the right-wing ruling Georgian Dream party and former English Premier League soccer star – was sworn in at the country’s parliament in Tbilisi.
A hardline critic of the West, he was the only candidate in the running, after opposition parties boycotted the parliamentary process to elect a president. Kavelashvili pledged to be “everyone’s president, regardless of whether they like me or not.” He urged Georgians to unite around “shared values, the principles of mutual respect, and the future we should build together.” “The Georgian people have always understood that peace is the main prerequisite for survival and development,” he said on Sunday. In recent weeks, Kavelashvili’s succession to the largely ceremonial role sparked condemnation from key opposition groups, and fierce protests by citizens who oppose the government’s decision to delay its bid to join the European Union. Outgoing President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-Western opponent of the ruling party, maintained a hardline position in her speech to supporters on Sunday outside the presidential palace. “I will come out of here and be with you,” she said. “I am taking legitimacy with me, I am taking the flag with me, I am taking your trust with me,” she added. Protesters waved red cards in reference to Kavelashvili’s footballing career. “Because today our president is a footballer, we are showing him a red card. The next step will be sending him off the pitch. The Georgian people will definitely do this, because it was a circus that they have held today in the parliament,” protester Sofia Shamanidi told The Associated Pres
GEORGIA PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION MIKHEIL KAVELASHVILI PROTESTS EU MEMBERSHIP
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