# Mikheil Kavelashvili

Mikheil Kavelashvili (Georgian: მიხეილ ყაველაშვილი; born 22 July 1971) is a Georgian politician and former professional footballer who was sworn in as the sixth president of Georgia on 29 December 2024. His election, the first through an electoral college after constitutional changes in 2017, is being disputed by the Georgian opposition, as well as by significant parts of the Western community. He was the sole candidate on the ballot – the first time in Georgia's history that voters were given only one choice during a presidential election.
As a football player, he was a striker who played in the English Premier League for Manchester City and in the Swiss Super League for a range of clubs. He also played for Dinamo Tbilisi and Spartak Vladikavkaz. He was capped 46 times by the Georgian national football team.

## Football career

As with many leading Georgian players, Kavelashvili began his career with Dinamo Tbilisi, emerging from their youth system in 1989. A striker, he soon established himself in the Dinamo side before earning a move to Russian club Spartak Vladikavkaz in 1995. He won the Russian Premier League during his year at the club from North Ossetia–Alania.
Kavelashvili began training with Manchester City on 1 March 1996, before finally joining the club on 28 March, which was transfer deadline day. He was recommended to manager Alan Ball by compatriot Georgi Kinkladze, who had joined for £2 million in the summer. The Kavelashvili deal, which was worth £1.4 million, took several weeks due to the player requiring a work permit. He made his City debut on 6 April by scoring in the Manchester derby game against Manchester United, and totalled 4 games and 1 goal in the Premier League as City were relegated.
Following City's relegation, Kavelashvili played 24 games (two goals) in the Football League First Division. The number was not enough to secure a renewal of his work permit, and he was sent out on loan to Grasshoppers, winning a Swiss Super League in 1998. He then played the majority of his football in Switzerland, featuring for Zürich, Luzern, Sion and Aarau. Aarau loaned him out to Vladikavkaz in autumn 2004, but he returned to Switzerland after playing just seven games.
Kavelashvili joined Basel's first team during their 2005–06 season under head coach Christian Gross, who was behind Grasshoppers' league win in 1998. Kavelashvili played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 12 March 2006 as he was substituted in the 66th minute; he scored the only goal of the win over Grasshoppers. Basel had started the season well and were joint leaders of the championship with Zürich right until the last day of the league campaign, when they lost the title on goal difference.
Kavelashvili had ten appearances for FCB in his first season and in each he had been used as a substitute. In his second season, he made seven appearances, again each as substitute, but the club released him before the winter break, and he retired from his active football career. During his period with the club, he played a total of 17 games (three in the UEFA Cup) and scored 4 goals.
With the Georgia national team, he won the 1998 Malta International Football Tournament.
In 2015, he planned to run for president of the Georgian Football Federation, but due to a lack of higher education, he was unable to participate in the election.

## Political career

In 2016, Kavelashvili was elected as a member of Parliament of Georgia for the Georgian Dream party. He was re-elected in 2020. He left Georgian Dream in 2022 and co-founded the People's Power party, a satellite of Georgian Dream designed to propagate anti-Western narratives without incriminating the ruling party.
Kavelashvili laid the foundations of the Global War Party conspiracy spread by Georgian Dream leaders since 2022, by insinuating US ambassador Kelly Degnan tried to blackmail Bidzina Ivanishvili into the war in Ukraine. He has since made unsubstantiated accusations that the political opposition in Georgia are being controlled by US congressmen with "an insatiable desire to destroy our country" and that they were plotting "a direct violent revolution and the Ukrainisation of Georgia".
Being described as right-wing populist and ultranationalist, Kavelashvili also accused the West of wanting "as many people as possible (to be) neutral and tolerant towards LGBTQ ideology", which he called "an act against humanity".

## President of Georgia (2024–present)

People's Power joined the party list of Georgian Dream for the 2024 parliamentary election, with Kavelashvili being elected for the third time. A month after the disputed elections, he was nominated as Georgian Dream's candidate for the presidency of Georgia. He remained the sole candidate, a first in Georgia's presidential elections, due to a boycott by the opposition. Due to constitutional changes in 2017 affecting the electoral system, the election took place for the first time through an electoral college, rather than a direct popular vote by the Georgian citizens.
In his nomination speech, Kavelashvili accused outgoing president Salome Zourabichvili of violating the constitution. As sole candidate in the election on 14 December 2024, Kavelashvili received 224 out of 225 votes in the 300-member electoral college and was proclaimed the next president. The opposition boycotted their participation in the electoral college. Kavelashvili was sworn in on 29 December 2024. He was the third former professional football player to become a country's president, following in the footsteps of Algeria's first president Ahmed Ben Bella between 1963 and 1965 and the election of George Weah as President of Liberia between 2018 and 2024.

### Disputed election

The election of Kavelashvili as president was disputed and regarded as illegitimate by the opposition, outgoing president Salome Zourabichvili, watchdog organizations and Georgian constitutional experts, as well as by significant parts of the Western community. This was largely based on allegations of electoral fraud associated with the parliamentary election seven weeks prior, which undermined the legitimacy of parliament and therefore the electoral college, which included all 150 members of parliament. Zourabichvili, along with opposition parties, civil society, and foreign actors, continued to assert her recognition as the legitimate President of Georgia. On 13 February 2025, the European Parliament passed a resolution stating that the European Union does not recognize Kavelashvili as the legitimate president of Georgia.

## Personal life

Kavelashvili is married to Tamar Bagrationi (born 1971), sister of Georgian singer Liza Bagrationi. He has three children born in 1996, 2001 and 2013, and one stepchild born in 1989.

## Sports honours

Dinamo Tbilisi
* Umaglesi Liga: 1990, 1994, 1995
Vladikavkaz
* Russian Premier League: 1995
Grasshoppers
* Swiss Super League: 1998