Former Manchester City striker, Mikheil Kavelashvili, is set to become Georgia’s next president, announced Bidzina Ivanishvili, chairman of Georgian Dream. Despite being prevented from running as president of the football federation due to lacking higher education, Kavelashvili’s anti-Western stance and affiliation with the Russia-friendly Georgian Dream party have propelled him into this new role.
The upcoming presidential elections in Georgia will be unique as the president will be elected indirectly by a 300-member electoral college composed of parliament members and local government representatives. Ivanishvili believes that electing Kavelashvili will restore the dignity of the presidential institute, implying dissatisfaction with the current pro-European president Salome Zourabichvili.
A seasoned politician, Kavelashvili co-founded his own right-wing Euroskeptic party called People’s Power after leaving Georgian Dream in 2022. Prior to his political career, he represented the Georgian national team and played for Dinamo Tbilisi and briefly for Manchester City in the mid-1990s.
Protests have recently erupted in Georgia following the disputed parliamentary election on October 26th, wherein the ruling party claimed a landslide victory. Opposition parties and independent observers have accused the election of being rigged.
As Georgia prepares for its presidential elections on December 14th, all eyes are on Mikheil Kavelashvili, whose journey from professional footballer to potential head of state epitomizes an extraordinary transition in both sports and politics.