Islamabad: Georgia on Sunday inaugurated governing party loyalist Mikheil Kavelashvili as president.
According to AFP, the far-right former footballer was sworn in at a parliamentary ceremony.
Outgoing leader and opposition parties have declared his election “illegitimate”.
Outgoing president Salome Zurabishvili said she was the “only legitimate president” and vowed to fight against the Georgian Dream party that controls parliament.
What is happening in Georgia?
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have clashed with riot police in Georgia earlier this month in protests against the governing Georgian Dream party’s decision to suspend talks aimed at joining the European Union until 2028.
According to Al Jazeera, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of the populist Dream Party, announced the decision after the European Parliament rejected the results of Georgia’s October 26 parliamentary elections.
He accused the European Parliament and “some European leaders” of “blackmail”.
US sanctions
On Friday, the United States sanctioned Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s former prime minister and founder of the governing Georgian Dream party, amid protests against a pause in European Union accession efforts, Al Jazeera reported.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Ivanishvili and his party had undermined democratic institutions and “derailed Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic future” to the benefit of Russia.
“Ivanishvili and Georgian Dream’s actions have eroded democratic institutions, enabled human rights abuses, and curbed the exercise of fundamental freedoms in Georgia,” Blinken said.
Georgian Dream and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced last month that they would suspend talks on Georgia’s entry into the EU until 2028.
