(VOVWORLD) - Mikheil Kavelashvili was inaugurated as President of Georgia on Sunday, amid a political crisis after the government froze European Union application talks in a move that sparked major protests.
 Georgian President Kavelashvili (Photo:Xinhua/VNA) |
Kavelashvili, 53, is a former MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party and was the only candidate for the job.
For the first time, the president was selected in parliament by a direct ballot of a 300-member electoral college made up of MPs and representatives of local government. 224 out of 225 members of Georgia's electoral college voted for him on Saturday.
The inauguration occurred as over 2,000 EU membership supporters gathered in Tbilisi.
Georgia's EU membership process has been stalled since 2022, and relations with the West worsened this year due to new laws in Tbilisi that were criticized by Europe. On November 28, the ruling Georgian Dream party announced the suspension of EU accession talks until 2028 and rejected EU funding.