Far-right pro-Russian Mikhail Kavelashvili elected president of Georgia

Georgia’s ruling party has appointed a former footballer turned far-right loyalist as the country’s president in a controversial electoral process amid a constitutional crisis and after weeks of mass pro-EU protests.

An electoral college, controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party and boycotted by the opposition, elected Mikhail Kavelashvili with 224 votes as the country’s next leader for a five-year term, said the president of the central electoral commission, Giorgi Kalandarishvili.

The acting president, Salomé Zurabishvili, has declared that the vote is “illegitimate” and has refused to resign.

Georgia has suffered a scene of violence in the streets due to massive pro-European protests. Among the protesters, posters can be seen calling Kavelashvili puppet and the word ‘president’ can be seen crossed out, without recognizing him as such.