Voting is underway from early morning to elect Georgia’s sixth President at the plenary session hall of the Parliament in the capital Tbilisi, amid the ongoing protests against the Government's decision to suspend the European Union accession talks until 2028, agenda.ge reports.
Under new rules defined by the Constitution, the President is no longer elected directly, through universal suffrage. Instead, the country's Central Election Commission has formed an electoral college, consisting of 300 members, to elect the President.
Before the beginning of the voting, Giorgi Kalandarishvili, the Chair of the Central Election Commission, introduced the voting procedure to the members of the electoral college.
The voting is open and the election procedure, which is to end at 2 pm, is being carried out in alphabetical order.
The electoral college includes 150 members of the Parliament, while the other 150 involve 20 members from the Supreme Council of the Abkhazia region, 21 from the Supreme Council of the Adjara region, and 109 formed from representatives of local self-government bodies.
In November, the ruling Georgian Dream party nominated Mikheil Kavelashvili, a member of the Georgian Parliament and former national football team player, as its presidential candidate.
According to local media, earlier today the country’s outgoing President Salome Zourabichvili joined the ongoing protest rally in front of the Parliament on Rustaveli Avenue for a short time, with the rally participants welcoming Zourabichvili with cheers, upon which she walked to the Presidential palace.
On Friday, the President called today’s elections “a provocation or a parody”, claiming an event would be “completely devoid of legitimacy, unconstitutional, illegitimate”.
Police forces are being mobilised in the vicinity of the Parliament building, with iron barriers installed, including the area in front of the legislative building where the Christmas tree and stage are placed, as well as on Freedom Square with water cannon vehicles deployed in place.
