Georgian Dream has nominated Mikheil Kavelashvili as their presidential candidate. Bidzina Ivanishvili, the honorary chairman of the Georgian Dream, presented the candidate at a briefing at the party’s central office following the majority meeting and the party’s political council.
Mikheil Kavelashvili is a member of Georgia’s 11th convocation parliament. From 2016 to 2020, he was a member of the ninth convocation parliament from the electoral bloc Georgian Dream — Democratic Georgia (single mandate MP of Tbilisi’s Sanzona district), and he has been a member of Georgia’s tenth convocation parliament (single mandate representative of Nadzaladevi district) from 2020.
In 2022, Mikheil Kavelashvili, along with Sozar Subari and Dimitri Khundadze, left the Georgian Dream and joined the People’s Power party. From March 20, 2024, he has been the political secretary of the People’s Power party.
Mikheil Kavelashvili is a former striker of the Georgian national team. Between 1988 and 1995, he was a football player for Dinamo Tbilisi and became the Georgian champion thrice. Over the years, he played for football clubs such as Manchester City, Grasshopper, Zurich, and Lucerne. He holds a C-category coaching license from Switzerland and a B-category UEFA coaching license. In 2009, he became the founder and honorary president of the World Footballers Association (FIFPro) in Georgia.
The presidential elections in Georgia will be held on December 14. The date for electing the president was approved by parliament at yesterday’s plenary session. According to the new presidential election procedure defined in the constitution, the president will no longer be elected directly through general elections, and the parliament will have the authority to elect the president.
Specifically, the president of Georgia will be elected by an electoral college for a five-year term, through an open ballot without debates. The Central Election Commission will approve the electoral college. The college will be composed of 300 members, including all 150 members of parliament, 20 members of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, 21 members of the Supreme Council of Adjara, and local government representatives (109 members) proportional to the support received by parties in 2021-2022.
Additionally, at least 30 members of the Electoral College will have the right to nominate a presidential candidate. One electoral college member can support the nomination of only one candidate. In the first round of elections, a candidate who receives at least two-thirds of the votes of the full composition of the electoral college will be considered elected. If the candidate fails to gather this number of votes, a second ballot will be held, where the election will occur by a simple majority. Regarding the age requirement for presidential candidates, the constitution stipulates that a Georgian citizen aged 40 and above, who has resided in the country for 15 years, can be elected president.
