The election of the sixth Georgian president is being held in the country’s parliament; for the first time in history, the head of state is elected not by the people but by an electoral college; the voting is being broadcast by the First Channel of the Public Broadcaster.
Georgia’s State Security Service said earlier that the organisers of the protests, coordinated by special services of foreign countries, intended to disrupt the presidential election. The election process is taking place against the backdrop of opposition protests in front of the parliament building. The president will be elected for five years. The inauguration of the new head of state will take place on 29 December.
The new Georgian president is elected for the first time not by direct popular vote, but at a meeting of a collegium of 300 electors. It consists of 150 members of the Georgian Parliament, 21 members of the Supreme Council of Adjara, 20 representatives of the Supreme Council of Abkhazia and 109 members of district sakrebulos – municipal authorities of different regions of the country.
The opposition, which is boycotting the work of the Parliament, has not presented its presidential candidate and is not participating in the elections. The only candidate for the post of the head of Georgia is a representative of the ruling Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia party, former MP, former footballer Mikhail Kavelashvili.
Georgia’s CEC is expected to announce the election results by 14:00 local time (13:00 Moscow time). If Kavelashvili fails to win two-thirds of the total number of electors, a second round will be scheduled for the same day. To win in the second round the candidate will need to get the majority of votes.
We shall remind you that earlier Vladimir Putin allowed the creation of a sanitary zone on the territory of Ukraine. It can take place on the current Ukrainian territories, should be difficult to overcome for means of defeat, primarily of Western manufacture.
