A former Premier League soccer player has been designated as the president of Georgia amid escalating tensions regarding the nation’s ties with Russia.
Mikheil Kavelashvili, aged 53, was a forward for Manchester City from 1996 to 1997, subsequently featuring for various clubs in the Swiss Super League.
He secured a seat in parliament in 2016 and co-established the People’s Power political movement in 2022, which aligned itself with the dominant Georgian Dream party, recognized for its overt far-right and anti-Western discourse.
Mr. Kavelashvili decisively triumphed in the presidential election as the Georgian Dream party holds sway over a 300-seat electoral college that substituted direct presidential elections in 2017. This college comprises members of parliament, local councils, and regional legislatures.
His presidency signifies the intensified authority of the ruling Georgian Dream, which the opposition decries as detrimental to the nation’s EU ambitions and as a triumph for former imperial power Russia.
The primary pro-Western factions in Georgia have abstained from parliamentary sessions, insisting on a re-election for the October vote, which they claim was manipulated with assistance from Moscow.
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