Tbilisi, Georgia

Former footballer and far-right politician Mikheil Kavelashvili was elected as Georgia's new president on Saturday (Dec 14) in an indirect election, termed as "illegitimate" by the current pro-EU (European Union) leader. 

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Kavelashvili was chosen by the governing Georgian Dream party. He is known for his expletive-laden parliament speeches and controversial statements against government critics and LGBTQ+ people.

Kavelashvili – the only presidential candidate – was chosen amid the ongoing social upheaval as thousands of anti-government protestors have flooded the capital city of Tbilisi for weeks to show their anger against the ruling Georgian Dream for shelving EU accession talks.

Protestors called Kavelashvili a "puppet" of Georgian Dream's founder and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. Meanwhile, Ivanishvili has described the newly elected president as "the embodiment of a Georgian man".

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The 53-year-old has been making headlines for his comments against the LGBTQ+ community and he once slammed the West for wanting "as many people as possible (to be) neutral and tolerant towards the LGBTQ ideology, which supposedly defends the weak but is, in fact, an act against humanity". 

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Early life 

Kavelashvili was born in 1971 in Georgia's Bolnisi town. He began his career as a professional footballer in the 1980s. He started by playing for clubs in Georgia and Russia and later on became a striker for his country's national team.

In 2015, he was disqualified from running for president of the Georgian Football Federation as he lacked the higher education required for the role.

In 2016, he served as an MP for the Georgian Dream and was elected to the legislature on the party's list in the October 2024 polls. However, at the time, the opposition groups alleged that the polls were rigged and refused to recognise it. 

In 2022, he, along with other Georgian Dream lawmakers, made an anti-Western group that officially split from the governing party but was widely seen as the ruling party's satellite.

Oligarch's 'puppet'

Kavelashvili's nomination has sparked outrage across Georgia. Tens of thousands of Georgians have been protesting for weeks now against the ruling party for drifting from its aim of joining the EU. 

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Protestors expressed their views on Kavelashvili as one of the protestors told news agency AFP, "I can hardly imagine anyone less suited for the role of head of state". 

"Caligula wanted his horse to be a consul, our oligarch wants his puppet Kavelashvili to be a president," he told AFP. 

(With inputs from agencies)