Mikheil Kavelashvili, a fierce critic of the West, was sworn in as , after the government suspended negotiations on its European Union candidacy, triggering huge protests.
Outgoing President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-European Union opponent of the ruling party, said in a defiant speech to supporters in front of the presidential palace that she was leaving the official residence, but that Kavelashvili had no legitimacy as president, a position that is, largely ceremonial.
“I’m going to get out of here and be with you,” she declared. “I’m taking legitimacy with me, I’m taking the flag with me, I’m taking your trust with me,” he added, before leaving the palace to join his supporters.
Zourabichvili claims that Kavelashvili was not chosen correctly, as the parliamentarians who chose him were elected in an October parliamentary election that she says was marred by fraud. Georgia’s opposition parties support her.
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The ruling Georgian Dream party and the country’s electoral commission say October’s election was free and fair. The ruling party maintains that Kavelashvili is the duly elected president.
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The presidential standoff is seen as a turning point in Georgia, a mountainous country of 3.7 million people that until recently was considered one of the most democratic and pro-Western among former Soviet countries.
Kavelashvili is a loyal ally of Bidzina Ivanishvili, a reclusive billionaire former prime minister widely considered Georgia’s de facto leader.
On Friday, the United States imposed sanctions on Ivanishvili, saying he is leading Georgia’s current anti-Western, pro-Russian turn.
