Former footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili, who was elected president of Georgia today and who was the only candidate for the post, is known for his scathing speeches against critics of the government, to which he is strongly loyal, writes Agence France-Presse in a commentary on the new Georgian head of state.
The 53-year-old Kavelashvili is known for his speeches before the parliament in Tbilisi, often full of obscene expressions directed against critics of the ruling party “Georgian Dream“ and against people from the LGBT+ community.
Before joining “Georgian Dream“ he developed a football career in local and European teams. He also played for “Manchester City“. In recognition of his loyalty, he was promoted to the top of the state at a delicate time for Georgia, AFP notes.
In Georgia, the powers of the head of state are limited and mostly symbolic. However, this did not prevent the current president Salome Zurabishvili, the agency commented.
Georgia is struggling with a political crisis after the last parliamentary elections, the results of which were disputed, and street demonstrations were marked by violence.
Protesters accused Mikhail Kavelashvili of being a puppet of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia and then founded the “Georgian Dream” party and has ruled the country from behind the scenes since 2012.
According to Ivanishvili, his protégé Kavelashvili is “the embodiment of the Georgian man“. With a mustache and slicked-back hair, he is known for his sharp statements.
His political comments align with far-right ideology, especially when it comes to concerns about national identity, at odds with the opposition's recognition of the LGBT+ community, and he promotes “the pure traditional values of Georgians“ against what he calls the “fascist-liberal decay“ imposed by the West.
Kavelashvili most often attacks people from the LGBT+ community, who are victims of intense hostility in the country, where the influence of Orthodox Christianity remains strong.
The former footballer accused the West of wanting “as many people as possible to be neutral and tolerant towards the LGBTQ ideology, which supposedly protects the weak, but in fact opposes humanity“.
Born in 1971 in the small southwestern village of Bolnisi, Mikhail Kavelashvili began playing sports in the 1980s in Georgia and Russia. He played as a striker for the English team “Manchester City“ in the period 1995-1996, and then competed mainly in Swiss clubs.
Since 2016, he has been a member of parliament and was re-elected in the highly criticized parliamentary elections in October. In 2022, he created a faction promoting anti-Western themes, which officially separated from the “Georgian Dream“, although it is still considered to be under its control.
In his speeches, he accused the West of wanting to drag Georgia, which had already experienced a brief war with Russia in 2008, into the armed conflict in Ukraine.