The ruling Georgian Dream party's presidential candidate, Mikheil Kavelashvili, was inaugurated amid protests against the party, and former independent President Salome Zurabishvili claimed she was Georgia's only legitimate president, Euractiv reported on Dec. 29. On Dec. 30, Kavelashvili signed amendments to several security-related laws that Parliament previously approved and that the opposition considers repressive.

On Dec. 14, a 300-seat electoral college chose Kavelashvili as Georgia's sixth president. This was the first time Georgia appointed a president this way, after a constitutional reform in 2017 replaced the direct election of the president with an electoral college. The Georgian opposition claims the Oct. 26 general election was marred by irregularities, so it does not recognize the electoral college or Kavelashvili's Dec. 14 appointment as legitimate. Since late November, thousands of demonstrators have protested to demand fresh elections and express their support for Georgia's EU membership. Georgian police have cracked down on many of these protests, often using tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators. The United States sanctioned Georgian Dream's founder on Dec. 27.