Protesters take to the streets after the inauguration of Georgia’s new president

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Mikheil Kavelashvili, a member of Georgia’s ruling party, has been sworn in as the president of the Caucasus country, sparking protests in the capital Tbilisi.

Kavelashvili’s inauguration marks the latest step in what critics have described as a government capture by pro-Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose Georgian Dream party has brought all state institutions under the control of home since he came to power in 2012. The lone candidate for that role was elected this month by a 300-member college, mostly GD members or those with sympathy.

Protesters took to the streets with red cards – a sign of their opposition to the former footballer, Manchester City player and several Swiss groups, have become ultranationalist firebrands.

Protesters, who held daily rallies last month as political tensions mounted, welcomed the US administration’s move to impose sanctions on Ivanishvili. He was hit by measures, announced on Friday, for “undermining the democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia in favor of the Russian Federation”.

From the Orbeliani Palace, the seat of the president, on Sunday, Salome Zourabichvilithe best president of the country and a real opposition leader, he said he still has the right to participate.

In a speech he addressed to the Georgian people gathered in front of the palace, he criticized Kavelashvili’s inauguration saying it was “an image” and affirmed his loyalty to “the country and the people . . . I will leave here with you and stay with you.”

Zourabichvili was still unsure whether to stay in the palace or leave, several people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times. He also said he refused to come down until new elections are held, arguing that the college, controlled by members of the ruling party, has no right to elect Kavelashvili as president.

He is also looking for new options. The European Parliament said the October election was “neither free nor fair”.

Georgia had a year of political upheaval. On December 14 last year, people took to the streets of Tbilisi and other cities to celebrate the country gaining EU candidate status, a long-held dream for many in the small Caucasus nation of 3.8 million.

But the bureaucratic slide accelerated in May when parliament adopted a law on foreign agents, dubbed the “Russian law” for its resemblance to Moscow’s crackdown on dissent, despite months of protest.

Non-governmental organizations have warned that it is a tool to dismantle civil society, reflecting Russia’s practice of using a “foreign agent” as a pretext for prosecution. Unlike Russia, Georgian organizations must register, but many NGOs have resisted the protests.

The next issue came in October’s parliamentary elections when Georgia’s Dream claimed 54 percent of the vote. There were widespread violations on election day, including ballot tampering, stolen IDs and “carousel voting”, where the same people voted at multiple polling stations, according to many observers. Opposition parties rejected the results, boycotted parliament and called for new elections.

Irakli Kobakhidze, the GD-backed prime minister, in late November announced that Georgia was suspending EU accession negotiations, pledging to review the issue in 2028 so that the country could join “with dignity”.

The protests turned violent and were met with an unprecedented police presence, with many hospitalized and hundreds detained.

“The explosion of the system came when people changed the Georgian Dream, they saw their neighbors and their families being beaten – this was the last straw,” said Tamar Chergoleishvili, an opposition politician and former media manager.

Elene Khoshtaria, leader of Droa! (It’s Time!), part of the liberal party that came second in the parliamentary elections according to the official results, called the opposition “the opposition party of the country”.

“It’s not about which party you like. It is about whether you and your children can continue to live in this country in a peaceful or weak way,” he said.

For some opposition politicians, the country’s descent into authoritarianism was not surprising.

“For more than 10 years I have been saying that Ivanishvili’s path is towards (former Ukrainian president Viktor) Yanukovich,” said Giga Bokeria, a former national security adviser. “I can be surprised by the speed and certain types of turns, but not the turns themselves.”

Kornely Kakachia, director of the Georgian Political Center in Tbilisi, said the ruling party is taking a gamble by increasing its pressure on civil society.

He said: “The more they put pressure on the people, the more they go out. The people of Georgia will not tolerate this. Too many people (are) upset with Ivanishvili.”