Georgia's president slams her successor's appointment as 'a mockery of democracy'

Georgia's outgoing President Salome Zourabichvili has attended an opposition rally in Tbilisi and slammed the decision by the electoral college to name former footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili as her successor "a parody".

53-year-old Kavelashvili was the only candidate on the ballot and was chosen as Georgia’s new president by all but one of the 225 electors who showed up for the vote.

Kavelashvili is a hardline critic of the West and many opposition figures see his appointment as proof of the ruling Georgian Dream tightening its grip on power and moving the country further away from its EU aspirations.

Zourabichvili, who has long been at odds with Georgian Dream, called Saturday's vote a "mockery of democracy".

She has disputed the results of the 26 October parliamentary elections which saw Georgian Dream stay in power and like several opposition figures, suspects the vote was rigged with the help of Russia.

She's vowed to stay on as president after her six-year term ends on Monday, describing parliament as illegitimate and having no authority to select her successor.

"I remain your president - there is no legitimate Parliament and thus no legitimate election or inauguration," she posted on X late last month.

"My mandate continues."

She has been highly critical of the ruling party, accusing it of applying pro-Russia policies and refusing to sign some of what she sees as their more contentious pieces of legislation into law.

Attempts by Georgian Dream to impeach her have been unsuccessful.

Opposition parties have also said they will continue to see Zourabichvili as the country's legitimate president, even after Kavelashvili's inauguration on 29 December.

Who is Mikheil Kavelashvili?

The new president had a successful career as a footballer, playing as a striker for English Premier League team Manchester City as well as a number of teams in the Swiss Super League.

He was first elected to parliament in 2016 as a member of Georgian Dream, and in 2022 co-founded the People’s Power political movement, which was allied with Georgian Dream and become known for its strong anti-Western rhetoric.

Kavelashvili was also one of the authors of a controversial law that requires organisations which receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as "pursuing the interest of a foreign power".

A similar law exists in Russia, which has been used to discredit organisations critical of the government.

Unrest in Georgia

Many in Georgia dispute the results of the October parliamentary elections, suspecting Russian interference to keep what they see as the Moscow-friendly Georgian Dream in power.

Protests against the results broke out but they took on a new dimension and spread beyond the capital Tbilisi after the Georgian Dream's decision on 28 November to put EU accession talks on hold until at least 2028.

That decision was in response to a European Parliament resolution that criticised the elections as neither free nor fair.

It said the election represented another manifestation of Georgia’s continued democratic backsliding "for which the ruling Georgian Dream party is fully responsible."

International observers say they saw instances of violence, bribery and double voting at the polls, prompting some EU lawmakers to demand a re-run.

The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it meet the bloc's recommendations, but Brussels put that process on hold earlier this year after the passage of a controversial 'foreign influence' law, which was widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.

Critics have also accused the Georgian Dream of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.