Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has declared former footballer and member of the anti-western political party People’s Power Mikheil Kavelashvili as the next Georgian President following Saturday’s presidential elections. Kavelashvili is expected to take up office on 29 December. 

According to the CEC, Kavelashvili received 224 votes from the 300-member electoral college, with most of the remaining members, representing the opposition, boycotting the process. 

Among those boycotting the session were at least three members of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia — the government-in-exile for Abkhazia — including its former chair, Temur Mzhavia.

Another council member, Zurab Jguburia, refused to participate in the vote from the outset, stating that he ‘could not’ support a candidate with a ‘Russian mentality.’ Meanwhile, Ada Marshania, the Council’s most prominent member, expressed her dissatisfaction with the candidate as she cast her ballot in parliament, declaring that she was spoiling  her vote.

This was the first time in the country’s history the president has been elected via an electoral college following a change to the Constitution in 2017.

Kavelashvili was the sole candidate, nominated by the ruling Georgian Dream party on 27 November.

He entered politics as an MP for Georgian Dream in 2016 and was among those with the sharpest words for Georgia’s Western partners over their criticism of the ruling party’s anti-democratic steps and lack of institutional reforms. Kavelashvili  was also among the authors of Georgia’s Foreign Agent Law.

[Read more: Georgian Dream nominates football player and outspoken critic of the West for president]

In 2022, Kavelashvili formally departed Georgian Dream to co-found the People’s Power party, alongside others. While continuing to express support to the ruling party, the group pledged to voice more explicit opposition to the West than Georgian Dream itself, which at the time appeared cautious about alienating its pro-Western base.

Earlier this month, People’s Power left the Georgian Dream faction in Parliament to create what they termed a ‘healthy opposition’. Critics have claimed the move was made to avoid criticism that Georgian Dream was running a one-party parliament.

Protesters challenge Kavelashvili’s election as opposition backs Zourabichvili

Shortly after his nomination, Kavelashvili, a former player for the Russian Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz and English Manchester City football clubs, was criticised as a man ‘without a diploma,’ highlighting his lack of higher education.

Although lacking a higher education degree does not disqualify a candidate from running for president in Georgia, many recalled his inability in 2015 to run for the Georgian Football Federation’s presidency for this very reason.

Early on Saturday, demonstrators gathered in front of the Georgian parliament building holding their diplomas or playing football in order to protest against the vote taking place. After the official results were announced by the CEC, some of the protesters released black smoke.

Soon after the announcement of the president-elect, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze hailed the news by saying that ‘for more than 20 years, Georgia has not had a patriotic and mentally and psychologically balanced president’. 

‘In this regard, Mikheil Kavelashvili’s presidency will be a transformative change for our country’, he alleged. 

The vote has been widely dismissed by local stakeholders as illegitimate, along with the new iteration of parliament, half of whose members formed the electoral college. 

Among those rejecting the legitimacy of the president-elect is Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who has vowed to remain in office until the government agrees to call new elections. 

Zourabichvili’s decision has been backed by all four major pro-Western opposition parties, which have also refused to participate in the new parliament.