Who is Mikheil Kavelashvili, Georgia's new president?

Mikheil Kavelashvili, a 53-year-old ex-football player from Manchester City, has been elected as the new president of Georgia.

On Saturday, Mikheil Kavelashvili was elected as the president of Georgia by a 300-member electoral college. This system, which took the place of direct presidential elections in 2017, is currently under the control of his party, Georgian Dream.

Kavelashvili, 53, secured an easy victory since he was the only candidate running. While recent constitutional amendments in Georgia have turned the president's role into mostly a symbolic position, this outcome reflects a strengthening of the Georgian Dream party's control. The opposition views this as a setback for Georgia's hopes of joining the EU and a win for Russia.

Kavelashvili's journey to the presidency is quite unexpected. He started off as a talented young footballer, coming up through the youth ranks of Dinamo Tblisi in 1989. He then enjoyed a successful career as a striker, playing frequently for his hometown team before transferring to the Russian club Spartak Vladikavkaz in 1995.

He later signed with Manchester City in England, where he played for two seasons before moving on to several clubs in the Swiss Super League, eventually retiring in 2006. Throughout his career, he made 46 appearances for the Georgian national team and found the back of the net nine times.

Only a decade after he hung up his football boots, he was elected to the parliament of Georgia in 2016 as a member of the Georgian Dream party. By 2022, he helped establish a political movement called People’s Power, which partnered with Georgian Dream and gained notoriety for its staunch anti-western sentiments.

Kavelashvili has frequently faced criticism from Georgia's opposition for not having a higher education degree. On the day he was inaugurated as president, demonstrators gathered outside the parliament, displaying their own university diplomas and playfully tossing around footballs.

Kavelashvili played a part in creating a contentious law that mandates organizations receiving over 20% of their funding from outside the country to identify themselves as “representing the interests of a foreign entity.” This legislation mirrors a Russian law that aims to undermine groups that are critical of the government.

During his address in parliament following his nomination in November, Kavelashvili remarked, "Our society is fragmented." He suggested that the country's issues of "radicalization and polarization" are being intensified by external influences.

He charged the pro-Western outgoing president Zourabichvili, who has stated her intention to stay in office until a new election takes place, with breaching the constitution. He announced his plan to "bring the presidency back in line with its constitutional duties."