The only candidate from the ruling party elected president of Georgia
53-year-old Mikheil Kavelashvili has been elected president of Georgia, the country's Central Election Commission reports. According to the voting results, he received 224 out of 300 electoral votes.
For the first time in the history of Georgia, the president was elected not by the population, but by the electoral college. Moreover, the only candidate was the nominee of the ruling Georgian Dream party. Mikheil Kavelashvili was one of the initiators of the "foreign agent" bill in 2023.
Kavelashvili's inauguration will take place on December 29. However, the current president of the country, Salome Zurabishvili, said that she will not resign because she considers the recent parliamentary and now presidential elections illegitimate. Several large-scale protests unfolded in Tbilisi today.
Georgia is a parliamentary republic, where the powers of the president are insignificant. However, he is the supreme commander-in-chief, represents the country at the international level, and issues decrees of pardon.
