Pro-Putin former soccer star set to become next president of Georgia

Riga, Latvia: Georgia’s pro-Kremlin ruling party has picked a former Manchester City footballer as its presidential candidate.

Mikheil Kavelashvili, an anti-Western political hardliner, is all but certain to become president in December after the government ditched plans for a nationwide election.

Former Manchester City player Mikheil Kavelashvili was installed as Georgia’s president-elect on Saturday.Credit: AP

Instead, for the first time, a 300-seat electoral college controlled by the populist Georgian Dream government will elect the president to the largely ceremonial role.

Kavelashvili, 53, will replace Salome Zourabichvili, the current pro-Western president, who has been in office since 2018.

She has opposed the government and its Kremlin-inspired legislation that has included a crackdown on NGOs funded by the West.

Announcing Kavelashvili’s candidature, Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire funder of the Georgian Dream party, said he would “restore temporarily stolen dignity” to the presidential office.

“Honesty, fairness, patriotism and fidelity are the qualities that particularly distinguish Mikheil Kavelashvili,” he said.

Mikheil Kavelashvili, right, in action against the Chinese national team in 2007 during the Reunification Cup in Hong Kong.Credit: AP

Kavelashvili was a striker who played 28 times for Manchester City between 1995 and 1997, scoring three goals. He also played for the Georgian national team 46 times.

As a politician, Kavelashvili is known for his anti-US rhetoric and in 2022 he founded People’s Power, his own right-wing Eurosceptic party.

He accused Zourabichvili of “abusing” her powers as president by becoming an opposition figurehead.

Demonstrators hold portraits of activists injured during protests as they take part in an anti-government rally outside the Parliament building in Tbilisi, Georgia.Credit: AP

“My priority is to return the presidential institute under the constitution,” he said.

In Georgia, the president represents Georgia on foreign trips but can challenge parliamentary legislation.

Georgia, a former Soviet state in the South Caucasus, has become an ideological battleground between the Kremlin and the West and has been in turmoil for much of the year.

The pro-West opposition described parliamentary elections won by the Georgian Dream government in October as rigged by the Kremlin and has demanded a rerun.

European election observers said it was marred by widespread instances of bribery, double voting and physical intimidation.

The country has been embroiled in protests ever since, with the opposition boycotting parliament.

The European Union has also suspended Georgia’s accession to the bloc because of its shift towards the Kremlin and its similar crackdown on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.

Kavelashvili will become the second former Georgian international footballer to hold high office in his homeland.

Kakha Kaladze is the current Georgian Dream mayor of the capital, Tbilisi. He played for AC Milan for nine years and Georgia for 15 years.

Critics have accused Georgian Dream – established by Ivanishvili, who made his billions in Russia – of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow, accusations the ruling party has denied. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.

Zourabichvili has been president since 2018 and has vowed to stay on after her six-year term ends on Monday, describing herself as the only legitimate leader until a new election is held.

Georgian Dream’s decision last month to suspend talks on their country’s bid to join the EU added to the opposition’s outrage and galvanised protests.

The Telegraph, London