Georgian protests grow as pro-Russia candidate leads

Georgian pro-EU protesters rallied near the country's parliament building on the eve of the vote for the country's President.

In late November Georgia's ruling party Georgian Dream nominated Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former parliamentary deputy and professional soccer player, as its candidate for president in an election due to be held.

Kavelashvili, who played briefly for Manchester City as a striker in the mid-1990s, is a founder member of People's Power, a splinter group of the ruling Georgian Dream party, and has a record of hardline, anti-Western statements.

His election is all but assured, as Georgian Dream dominates the electoral college of members of parliament and local government representatives.

Although the president's post is largely ceremonial, the choice of Kavelashvili is likely to be viewed by the European Union and the United States as a further sign that Georgia is turning away from the West and moving closer to Russia.

He is set to succeed President Salome Zourabichvili, who was elected as an ally of the governing bloc, but has become a trenchant critique, accusing it of deliberately derailing Georgia's EU accession hopes.

Zourabichvili has denounced last month's parliamentary election, won by Georgian Dream, as fraudulent, and opposition lawmakers have refused to take their seats in parliament.

Zourabichvili called for a new parliamentary election.

Mikheil Kavelashvili, now 53, is a former MP from the increasingly authoritarian ruling Georgian Dream party and the only candidate for the job.

The four main opposition groups have rejected Kavelashvili and have boycotted parliament, insisting that the elections held in October were rigged.

Protests against Georgian Dream began immediately after the October elections but they burst into life on 28 November when the government announced it was putting EU accession negotiations on hold until 2028.

An overwhelming majority of Georgians back the country's path to the European Union and it is part of the constitution.