Georgian lawmakers elected Mikheil Kavelashvili as the country’s new president on Saturday.
Mikheil Kavelashvili, now 53, is a former MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party and was the only candidate for the job.
On Saturday, 224 out of 225 members of Georgia’s electoral college voted for him.
The four main opposition groups rejected Kavelashvili and boycotted parliament, insisting that the elections held in October were rigged.
Large crowds of protesters, facing freezing temperatures, gathered outside parliament from the early hours of Saturday morning ahead of the vote.
Georgia’s outgoing pro-Western president, Salome Zourabichvili, has condemned Kavelashvili’s election as a travesty, insisting she holds Georgia’s only remaining legitimate institution.
