Georgia’s governing party has nominated far-right politician Mikheil Kavelashvili as its candidate for president after disputed parliamentary elections last month.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire honorary chairman of the Georgian Dream party, announced the decision on Wednesday, calling the 53-year-old former deputy and footballer “the embodiment of a Georgian man” before a vote on the mostly ceremonial position on December 14.
Kavelashvili, a striker in the Premier League for Manchester City in the mid-1990s who later became known for his hardline, anti-Western statements as leader of a Georgian Dream splinter group called People’s Power, is all but certain to win the electoral college vote, given the ruling party’s sway over its members.
The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since Georgian Dream won disputed parliamentary elections on October 26, which were widely seen as a referendum on the country’s effort to join the European Union.
President Salome Zurabishvili has declared the new legislature “unconstitutional” and is seeking to annul the election results, alleging the vote was rigged under Russian influence.
In a speech accepting the nomination, Kavelashvili, pledged to unite Georgia while accusing the outgoing president of having “insulted and ignored” the constitution.
Zurabishvili, whose six-year term expires next month, was elected by popular vote.
But Georgia approved constitutional changes in 2017 that abolished the direct election of the president, replacing it with a vote by a 300-seat electoral college dominated by Georgian Dream.
Although the president’s post is largely ceremonial, the choice of Kavelashvili is likely to be viewed by the EU and the United States as a further sign that Georgia is turning away from the West and moving closer to Russia.
The ruling party, accused of democratic backsliding and deepening ties with Russia, says it wants Georgia to join the EU, but Brussels says Tbilisi’s application is frozen over newly passed laws on “foreign agents” and restrictions on LGBTQ rights.
Kavelashvili has accused the opposition of being steered by US congressmen who have “an insatiable desire to destroy our country” and are planning for “a direct violent revolution” and the Ukrainisation of Georgia”.
European election observers said last month’s elections took place in a “divisive” atmosphere marked by instances of bribery, double voting and violence.
Georgian Dream opened the first session of the new parliament on Monday as opposition members refused to take their seats in protest. On Tuesday, the ruling party’s lawmakers set the date for the presidential election.
Constitutional law experts said decisions taken by the new parliament are invalid because there has been no ruling yet on Zurabishvili’s legal challenge of the results of the October elections.
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