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Mikhail Kavelashvili elected as 6th president of Georgia

A total of 224 members of the 300-member electoral college cast their votes in favor of Kavelashvili

Mikheil Kavelashvili AP Photo

Mikheil Kavelashvili

TBILISI, December 14. /TASS/. Mikhail Kavelashvili representing the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party was elected on Saturday as the sixth president of Georgia, according to results of the vote count, which was broadcast live on the Georgian parliament's official website.

A total of 224 members of the 300-member electoral college cast their votes in favor of Kavelashvili, who needed to get two thirds of the votes to win in the first round of the election.

"According to the results provided by the secretary general [of the Central Election Commission], Mikhail Kavelashvili has been elected president," CEC Chairman Giorgi Kalandarishvili said as he signed the final election protocol.

Georgia held the presidential election on Saturday, December 14. The country’s new president had been for the first time elected by an electoral college and not through a popular vote.

Mikhail Kavelashvili, a former footballer and an ex-parliament member, was the only presidential candidate backed by the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party. The opposition has not recognized the results of the parliamentary vote held on October 26.

It has also boycotted the meetings of the legislative body and it has not put forward any candidates. Members of the parliament from the opposition do not plan to participate in the voting either.

The electoral college consisted of 300 members, including 150 members of the Georgian Parliament, 21 and 20 representatives of the Supreme Councils of Adjara and Abkhazia, respectively, as well as deputies from local authorities. The voting was held by the Central Elections Commission of Georgia in the Parliament building. The presidential election in the country has no longer been direct since constitutional changes were enforced in 2018.

The inauguration ceremony for the new president of Georgia who will be elected for a five-year period, is set for December 29.

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