The candidate of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Mikheil Kavelashvili, was elected new president of Georgia on Saturday in a vote held in Parliament with the backing of the Central Election Commission and despite the boycott of the opposition.
The former footballer and politician, who is accused by the opposition of having a pro-Russian stance, thus received the votes in favour of 224 voters compared to the vote against of only one member of the Electoral College – out of a total of 300.
Thus, the president of the Electoral Commission, Georgy Kalandarishvili, confirmed his appointment at the end of what have become the first presidential elections to be voted on by indirect suffrage in the country, which is going through a serious crisis following the parliamentary elections held at the end of October, in which Georgian Dream won by a narrow margin.
