Mikheil Kavelashvili, an ally of Georgia’s authoritarian ruling party, has been sworn in as president of the Caucasus country, sparking more protests in the capital Tbilisi.
Mr Kavelashvili’s inauguration marks the final step in what critics have described as a state capture by pro-Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose Georgian Dream party has brought all the country’s institutions under its control since coming to power in 2012. The sole candidate for the role was elected this month by a college of 300 members, mostly GD members or sympathisers.
Protesters against Mr Kavelashvili took to the streets with red cards – a symbol of their opposition to the former footballer, a striker for Manchester City and several Swiss clubs since turned ultranationalist firebrand.
Demonstrators, who have held daily rallies for the past month as the country’s political crisis escalated, welcomed a move by the US state department to impose sanctions on Mr Ivanishvili. He was hit by the measures, which were announced on Friday, for “undermining the democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia for the benefit of the Russian Federation”.
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Leaving the Orbeliani Palace, the presidential seat, on Sunday, Salome Zourabichvili, the country’s outgoing president and de facto opposition leader, said she remained the rightful holder of the role.
In a speech to Georgians gathered in front of the palace, she denounced Mr Kavelashvili’s inauguration as a “parody”, and affirmed her loyalty to “the country and the people... I will leave here with you and remain with you.”
Ms Zourabichvili had been uncertain whether to barricade herself in the palace or leave it, several people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times. She had said she would not step down until new elections were held, arguing that the college, dominated by ruling party members, did not have the legitimacy to elect Mr Kavelashvili as president.
She has also demanded new elections. The European Parliament said October’s vote was “neither free nor fair”.
Georgia has experienced a year of political upheaval. On December 14th last year, people took to the streets of Tbilisi and other cities to celebrate the country obtaining EU candidate status, a long-held dream for many in the small Caucasus nation of 3.8 million people.
But an authoritarian slide accelerated in May when parliament adopted a foreign agents law, dubbed the “Russian law” for its parallels with Moscow’s methods of suppressing dissent, despite months of protests.
Non-governmental organisations warned the approach was a tool to dismantle civil society, mirroring Russia’s practice of using the “foreign agent” label as a precursor to prosecution. Unlike in Russia, organisations in Georgia must self-register, but most NGOs have refused in protest.
The next flashpoint came with October’s parliamentary elections when Georgian Dream claimed 54 per cent of the vote. There were widespread violations on election day, including ballot stuffing, stolen IDs and “carousel voting”, in which the same people voted at multiple polling stations, according to multiple observers. Opposition parties rejected the results, boycotted parliament and demanded new elections.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the GD-backed prime minister, in late November announced that Georgia was suspending EU accession talks, pledging to revisit the issue in 2028 so the country could join “with dignity”.
Protests increased in intensity and were met with an unprecedented police crackdown, with dozens hospitalised and hundreds detained.
“Cracks in the system appeared as people turned on Georgian Dream, seeing their neighbours and family beaten – this was the final straw,” said Tamar Chergoleishvili, an opposition politician and former media manager.
Elene Khoshtaria, leader of Droa! (It’s Time!), part of the liberal coalition that came second in the parliamentary elections, according to the official results, called the opposition “a national resistance movement”.
“It’s not about which party you like. It’s about whether you and your children can continue to live in this country in a more or less peaceful way,” she said. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024
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