Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former Georgian footballer turned far-right politician, is poised to become Tbilisi’s next president in an indirect election condemned as “illegitimate” by the current pro-EU leader.
Chosen by the ruling Georgian Dream party as a loyalist, Kavelashvili, a former Manchester City player in the English Premier League, is notorious for his profanity-laced speeches in parliament and his outspoken attacks on government critics and the LGBTQ community.
He is expected to be elected by an electoral college controlled by Georgian Dream, following the party’s controversial 2017 constitutional amendments that eliminated direct popular votes for the presidency.
Kavelashvili’s rise to power comes amid ongoing protests in Tbilisi, with thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets in recent weeks, outraged by Georgian Dream’s decision to suspend EU accession talks.
Critics have labeled Kavelashvili a “puppet” of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of Georgian Dream, who has described him as “the embodiment of a Georgian man.”
With his trademark moustache and slicked-back hair, Kavelashvili’s comments on LGBTQ issues have raised serious concerns, particularly as Georgian Dream has adopted laws reminiscent of Kremlin-style restrictions on LGBTQ rights.
The ex-footballer slammed the West for wanting “as many people as possible (to be) neutral and tolerant toward the LGBTQ ideology, which supposedly defends the weak but is, in fact, an act against humanity.”
The new electoral process makes it a foregone conclusion that Kavelashvili will be the next president, with incumbent Salome Zurabishvili set to lose office.
But Kavelashvili will see his legitimacy undermined from the onset, with constitutional law experts — including an author of Georgia’s constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze — saying the election will be “illegitimate”.
Tbilisi is currently engulfed in a constitutional crisis, with Zurabishvili demanding a re-run of October’s parliamentary elections.
Parliament had approved its own credentials in violation of a legal requirement to await a court decision on Zurabishvili’s bid to have the election results annulled.
Zurabishvili has declared the new parliament and government “illegitimate” and vowed not to step down at the end of her term on December 29 if Georgian Dream does not organise a fresh vote.
