MBABANE:Former Manchester City player Mikheil Kavelashvili(53) and conservative critic of the West has been sworn-in as the new President of Georgia,the New York Times reported on Sunday.
Mikheil Kavelashviliwas sworn-in in a hall of Parliament that had many empty seats as representatives from four(4) opposition parties boycotted the event after an election in October that they denounced as rigged.
The parliamentary elections and the inauguration of a conservative President known for his criticisms of Western governments represented a watershed moment for Georgia.
Traditionally regarded as a pro-Western trailblazer among states that emerged after the Soviet collapse, Georgia, a country of 3.6 million people, is now widely seen as moving closer to Russia and China.
Journalists watched a giant screen on Sunday showing Mikheil Kavelashvili taking the oath of office as Georgia’s new president in Tbilisi, the capital.Credit...Vano Shlamov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images