Georgia’s new president gets sworn in, but his predecessor claims he is not a lawful leader

Hardline Western critic Mikheil Kavelashvili was inaugurated in as Georgia’s president on Sunday amid a political crisis after the government halted application negotiations for the European Union, a decision that provoked widespread demonstrations.

Salome Zourabichvili, the outgoing president and a pro-EU opponent of the governing party, told supporters outside the presidential house that Kavelashvili had no legitimacy as president, a mostly ceremonial role, but that she was leaving the mansion.

She said, “I will come out of here and be with you.”

“I am taking legitimacy with me, I am taking the flag with me, I am taking your trust with me,” she continued, before leaving the palace to socialize with her followers.

Kavelashvili was not properly chosen, according to Zourabichvili, because the parliamentarians who selected him were elected in a parliamentary election held in October that she claims was tainted by fraud. She has the backing of Georgia’s opposition parties.

The October election was free and fair, according to the Georgian Dream ruling party and the nation’s electoral authority. According to the ruling party, Kavelashvili is the legitimately elected president.

Georgia, a mountainous nation of 3.7 million people that was considered to be one of the most democratic and pro-Western of the former Soviet nations until recently, views the presidential stalemate as a turning point.

Georgia’s de facto leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili, is a reclusive millionaire former prime minister who Kavelashvili supports.
Ivanishvili was subject to penalties on Friday by the United States, which claimed he was leading Georgia’s current pro-Russian and anti-Western trend.

Protectors display red cards.

Once a professional soccer player who briefly played as a striker for Manchester City, Kavelashvili has accused Western intelligence services of conspiring to push Georgia into conflict with Russia.

“The Georgian people have always understood that peace is the main prerequisite for survival and development,” he stated shortly after taking office on Sunday.

Demonstrators outside parliament mocked Kavelashvili’s sports career by brandishing red cards. Scuffles with the police resulted in the temporary detention of six persons, according to local media.

“Right now, this so-called government is telling us that they inaugurated the new president, but there is no new president for us, for Georgian people who are standing here day and night,” Mariam Japaridze, a demonstrator, told Reuters

“We have only one legitimate president, and this is Salome Zourabichvili,” she said.

Official results from the October election show that Georgian Dream received about 54% of the vote.

International and local election observers have reported that there were infractions during the voting that may have impacted the outcome. Investigations have been demanded by Western nations.

Having abstained from parliament since the election, the nation’s four major pro-EU opposition parties support Zourabichvili. Until new elections are held, they claim she will continue to be the lawful president.

The clash follows a month of demonstrations over Georgian Dream’s decision to postpone EU membership negotiations until 2028, so ending the nation’s long-standing and constitutionally mandated aspiration to join the club.

The action sparked a police response that resulted in the arrest of over 400 individuals, including top opposition leaders, and infuriated Georgians, who are strongly pro-EU according to surveys.

Georgian Dream, which Georgia achieved independence from in 1991, has been accused by Zourabichvili of purposefully undermining Georgia’s aspirations of joining the EU in favor of Russia.

According to supporters of the opposition, the president was the only institution in the nation that was not ultimately controlled by Ivanishvili, the founder of the governing party, under Zourabichvili, who was elected in 2018 with Georgian Dream’s backing before splitting from the party in recent years.

Kavelashvili’s position, they claim, will give Ivanishvili complete authority over Georgia.