Today, Mikheil Kavelashvili was elected as the next president of Georgia – a former soccer star turned conservative right-wing politician and whom the opposition calls a puppet of Russian interests.
Many have protested the ruling party’s election by standing and kicking footballs outside parliament.
– We want to show that this is his profession and he can do that, but he cannot be our president, says protester Giorgi Khasidzi to TV4 Nyheterna.
The dream of EU membership, which four out of five Georgians carry, is disappearing further and further away.
When the ruling Georgian Dream party today appointed Micheil Kavelashvili, a former soccer star, now a right-wing conservative EU critic, as the new president – then protesters responded by kicking the ball outside the parliament.
“Not our president”
Giorgi Khasidzi is one of those who have protested against the ruling Georgian Dream party since the disputed election in October. At the end of November, when the government decided to pause the process of Georgian EU membership – the protesters became even more numerous.
– We want to show that this is his profession and he can do it, but he cannot be our president, he tells TV4 Nyheterna.
During his football career, Kavelashvili received three red cards. Today he received another one from the protesters.
– We give him a red card because we consider him an illegitimate president. We don’t recognize him, says protester Marina Machavariani.
Today 20:05
Filip Jacobson reports from Tblisi: “Incredible amounts of police”
The warning from the west
Georgian Dream says it advocates a more pragmatic path with ties to both the EU and Russia and has called the protests an attempted coup d’état.
But many leaders in the West have warned that in recent years the current government has taken the country in an authoritarian direction away from the EU and closer to Putin’s Russia. That direction is supported by the new president Mikheil Kavelashvili.