Former Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is the founder of the country’s ruling Georgian Dream party, has been sanctioned by the U.S. In a statement dated December 27, Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused the billionaire — whose $7.6 billion net worth exceeds a quarter of the country’s GDP — of trying to “derail Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic future for the benefit of Russia”.

Two days later, Mikheil Kavelashvili, previously a Manchester City striker, took charge as the former Soviet republic’s President, replacing pro-western Salome Zourabichvili.

Prior to the sanctions on Ivanishvili were the “disputed” elections of October 26. Defying pollsters’ predictions, the nation’s electoral authority had announced victory for the Georgian Dream, extending its 12-year grip on power since its formation in 2012. In late November, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze decided to suspend talks regarding accession plans into the EU. This spawned protests which have continued to date and even prompted then-President Zourabichvili, once a supporter of the Georgian Dream, to lock horns with the party.

At one of these protests, an effigy of Mr. Ivanishvili was burnt. For, citizens believe that though his Prime Ministership lasted just for over a year between 2012 and 2013, the billionaire continues to cast a shadow over the Georgian Dream and its policies.

Like Georgia, Mr. Ivanishvili’s past, present and future too are intertwined with those of its larger neighbour. Born in 1956 in Chorvila, western Georgia, Mr. Ivanishvili obtained a degree in engineering from Tbilisi and went on to pursue a degree in economics in Moscow. He started out in the twilight of the Soviet Union selling electronic goods, before branching out to mining and establishing his own bank, Rossiyskiy Kredit.

Ties with Moscow

Reports suggest the 68-year-old’s first brush with the Russian bureaucracy came when his brother was kidnapped back in the day. To secure his release, Mr. Ivanishvili turned to the Russian secret service.

Another report hints at his role in Semibankirschina — a group formed in 1996 to finance the re-election of then Russian President Boris Yeltsin, whose approval rating had dipped to 3%. Mr. Ivanishvili was tasked with financing the election campaign of Alexander Lebed, a candidate put in place to split the votes of communist leader Gennady Zyuganov. The group was repaid through the Yeltsin government’s auction of state-owned companies, under the loans for shares schemes. However, with Vladimir Putin’s ascension to the presidency in the 2000s began the reining in of many of these businessmen.

Mr. Ivanishvili took the political plunge when the country was disenchanted by the rule of Mikheil Saakashvili — the President who presided over the 2008 war with Russia, which saw Georgia cede 20% of its territory. Mr. Ivanishvili sparked hope in people by offering his vision of a socialist democracy in his native town of Chorvila. Separately, he built a castle for himself on a mountaintop in Tbilisi, complete with a helipad, an art gallery and a shark tank. Mr. Saakashvili is currently in jail.

Ultimately, Mr. Ivanishvili and other Georgian Dream leaders have managed to paint a picture. One in which they have drummed up anti-Western rhetoric; espoused ‘Christian values’, and homophobic and transphobic remarks; mongered a theory about a ‘Global War Party’; and cited the war in Ukraine to sell their vision of peace. The party’s vote share in Georgia’s heartland is testament to the popularity of these values.

Clashing with them is another group of Georgians who seek integration with the EU. But the West’s support for the opposition’s claims that the October elections were fraudulent and the subsequent American sanctions on Mr. Ivanishvili have further deteriorated the relations between Georgian Dream and western capitals. As Georgian Dream, undeterred by protests and pressure tactics from the West, is tightening its grip on the state, Mr. Ivanishvili remains the power behind the throne.

Georgian lawmakers elected Mikheil Kavelashvili, a hardline critic of the West, as the country’s new President on Saturday, December 14, 2024
| Photo Credit: AP

Georgian lawmakers elected Mikheil Kavelashvili, a hardline critic of the West, as the country’s new President on Saturday (December 14, 2024), setting him up to replace a pro-Western incumbent amid major protests against the government over a halt to the country’s European Union accession talks last month.

The ruling Georgian Dream party’s move to freeze the EU accession process until 2028, abruptly halting a long-standing national goal that is written into the country’s constitution, has provoked widespread anger in Georgia, where opinion polls show that seeking EU membership is overwhelmingly popular.

Mr. Kavelashvili, a former professional soccer player, has strongly anti-Western, often conspiratorial views. In public speeches this year, he has repeatedly alleged that Western intelligence agencies are seeking to drive Georgia into war with Russia.

Georgian Presidents are picked by a college of electors composed of MPs and representatives of local government. Of 225 electors present, 224 voted for Mr. Kavelashvili, who was the only candidate nominated.

All opposition parties have boycotted parliament since an October election in which official results gave the ruling Georgian Dream party almost 54% of the vote, but which the opposition say was fraudulent.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in light snowfall outside parliament ahead of the presidential vote. Some played soccer in the street outside and waved red cards at the parliament building, a mocking reference to Mr. Kavelashvili’s athletic career.

Mr. Kavelashvili was nominated for the mostly ceremonial presidency last month by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire ex-Prime Minister who is widely seen as the country’s paramount leader.

Mr. Kavelashvili is a leader of People’s Power, an anti-Western splinter group of the ruling party, and was a co-author of a law on “foreign agents” that requires organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from overseas to register as agents of foreign influence, and imposes heavy fines for violations.

Outgoing President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-EU critic of the ruling Georgian Dream party, has positioned herself as a leader of the protest movement and has said she will remain President after her term ends. She considers parliament illegitimate as a result of alleged fraud in the October election.

Opposition parties have said they will continue to regard Zourabichvili as the legitimate President, even after Mr. Kavelashvili is inaugurated on December 29.

Souring relations with west

Georgia has been seen for decades as one of the most pro-Western and democratic of the Soviet Union’s successor states, but relations with the West have soured this year, with Georgian Dream forcing through laws on foreign agents and LGBT rights that critics say are Russian-inspired and draconian.

Western countries have raised the alarm at Georgia’s apparent foreign policy pivot and authoritarian drift, with the EU threatening sanctions over a crackdown on protests. In a video address to Georgians published on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said: “Georgia’s European dream must not be extinguished”.

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Georgian Dream has moved to improve ties with Russia, which ruled Georgia for 200 years until 1991, continues to back two breakaway Georgian regions, and defeated Georgia in a five-day war in 2008.

Tens of thousands of protesters have rallied outside parliament nightly for more than two weeks. Some have hurled fireworks at police, who have used water cannon, tear gas and ballot attacks to break up demonstrations.

The government has repeatedly said the protests represent an attempt to stage a pro-EU revolution and a violent seizure of power.

Police have detained hundreds of protesters. Georgia’s Interior Ministry has said that more than 150 officers have been injured during the protests.

On Friday (December 13, 2024), parliament approved sweeping new restrictions on protests, hiking fines for participants and organisers, and banning from gatherings face coverings, fireworks and lasers used to dazzle police officers.

Georgian oligarch and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili gives a speech during a gathering at the party’s headquarters after exit polls were announced during parliamentary elections in Tbilisi on October 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Georgia’s Central Election Commission said Saturday the ruling Georgian Dream party won 52.99% of the vote after the parliamentary election in the South Caucasus country.

The CEC said the announcement was preliminary after 97% of the electronic vote was counted. Georgians voted inside the country electronically, and using paper ballots.

Not all votes cast by Georgians abroad have been counted. Earlier Saturday, opposition parties claimed victory.

If Georgian Dream wins a parliamentary majority, it will stoke fears about the country’s bid for EU membership which was put on hold earlier this year by Brussels after the ruling party passed laws cracking down on freedom of speech.