Former soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili was sworn in as the new president of Georgia on Sunday. This is written by Reuters.
Kavelashvili is a harsh critic of the West. He will replace EU-friendly Salome Zurabishvili.
The 53-year-old president was appointed by an electoral college earlier in December.
The college consisted of 300 members. Mikheil Kavelashvili was the only candidate.
Georgia has been characterized by great unrest following the controversial parliamentary elections at the end of October.
Then the governing party, Georgia’s Dream, was able to name itself the winner with 54 percent of the vote.
Several have refused to recognize the election results, including the former president, Salome Zurabishvili.
She demanded a recount after the election. This once again determined the result.
Zurabishvili refuses to step down on Sunday and has declared himself the country’s “only legitimate president”.
– I am leaving the presidential palace and standing with you. I carry the legitimacy, the flag and your trust with me, she told thousands of demonstrators.
At least 2,000 pro-EU protesters gathered in the capital Tbilisi on Sunday ahead of the president’s inauguration, writes AFP.
The demonstrators, together with Zurabishvili, accuse the Georgian Dream of election fraud. They therefore believe that Kavelashvili’s appointment is invalid.
/ritzau/
Source: www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk
