CNN —
Georgian lawmakers voted in a far-right former soccer star as the country’s next president on Saturday, deepening tensions between the pro-Russian government and pro-Western opposition amid mounting popular anger over the former’s decision to halt European Union accession talks.
Mikheil Kavelashvili, 53, is a former MP for the ruling Georgian Dream party and played for the English soccer team Manchester City during the 1990s. He was the only candidate in the running.
For the first time, the president was chosen not by a national election, but in parliament by a direct ballot of a 300-member electoral college made up of MPs and representatives of local government. Because the four main opposition groups have boycotted parliament since October’s disputed election, Kavelashvili was a shoo-in to win.
In total there were 225 electors present for the vote, and 224 voted for Kavelashvili, who was the only candidate nominated, Reuters reported. He will be inaugurated on December 29, the news agency said. Georgian presidents hold largely ceremonial powers.
Kavelashvili is a hardline critic of the West and his upcoming presidency will no doubt exacerbate divisions between pro-Kremlin forces and pro-EU protesters, many of whom who have camped out in Tbilisi for the past 16 nights following the government’s decision to halt talks on joining the EU.
Tensions have been brewing for months in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people, where critics accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of following increasingly authoritarian, pro-Russia policies in a turn away from the West that has tempered hopes for Georgia’s long-promised path to EU membership.
