By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
TBILISI/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Georgia’s parliament has elected Mikheil Kavelashvili, a pro-Russian former professional football player, as the country’s new president, raising concerns in the West. Kavelashvili has strong anti-Western views.
In public remarks this year, he repeatedly alleged that Western intelligence agencies are seeking to drive Georgia into war with Russia, which still occupies about 20 percent of the country.
Georgian presidents are appointed by a college of electors comprised of legislators and local government representatives. Of the 225 electors present, 224 voted for Kavelashvili, the only candidate nominated.
His election was due to add to social and political tensions. He was to replace a pro-Western incumbent despite significant protests against the government over a halt to the country’s European Union accession talks.
The ruling Georgian Dream party’s move last month to freeze the EU membership process until 2028 abruptly halted a long-standing national goal written into the country’s constitution.
BROAD ANGER
It provoked widespread anger in Georgia, where opinion polls show that seeking EU membership is overwhelmingly popular.
There has been a violent crackdown by riot police on pro-EU protestors. Among those injured was Davit Okruashvili, a 33-year-old information security analyst.
He still bears the marks of his recent beating, with both eyes blackened, reporters witnessed. “It was November 29, around 11 p.m. behind the parliament, when the riot police came down on us mercilessly,” he recalled.
More violence and political turmoil are expected as the outgoing President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-EU critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, has positioned herself as a protest movement leader.
She warned that she would remain president after her term ends. Zourabichvili considers parliament illegitimate because of alleged fraud in the October election.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Saudi Arabia has launched the largest reconstruction initiative in Syria since U.S. sanctions were lifted, positioning the kingdom as a central driver of Syria’s postwar recovery.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the United States has given Kyiv and Moscow another deadline to reach a peace agreement, proposing that the nearly four-year war should end by June, as Russia escalates air strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Wednesday with President Donald Trump at the White House, as negotiations with Iran enter a decisive and potentially volatile phase. The meeting, set for 11:00 a.m. Washington time, will mark Netanyahu’s seventh face-to-face encounter with Trump since the U.S. president began his second term, underscoring the unusually close relationship between the two leaders.
With the deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security only days away, Democrats have refused an offer from the White House to strike a compromise over Immigrations and Customs Enforcement changes.
President Donald Trump is weighing deploying a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East as the U.S. continues talks with Iran over its nuclear program.
Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, Republicans in Congress are pushing forward multiple bills that would standardize election security requirements nationwide.
Kenya has condemned as “unacceptable” the recruitment of its citizens to fight for Russia in Ukraine, amid reports that several Kenyans have been killed or wounded on the battlefield as the war approaches its fourth anniversary.