Diplomats excluded from inauguration of Georgian Dream’s Kavelashvili as president

The Georgian Parliament has confirmed that diplomats accredited to Georgia will not be invited to the December 29 inauguration of Mikheil Kavelashvili, the elected president representing the ruling Georgian Dream party.

The press center of the parliament cited a “shortage of seats in the meeting hall” as the reason for the exclusion, with attendance limited to members of the electoral college, government representatives, and constitutional bodies. The ceremony will be held at the Parliament building in Tbilisi.

This follows a similar decision by the Georgian Dream not to invite ambassadors to the first session of the new parliament on November 25, a move described by Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili as necessary to “minimize foreign influence.” Opposition parties, however, interpreted it as an attempt to pre-emptively address a lack of foreign engagement, alleging a broader issue of legitimacy for the parliament and Kavelashvili’s election.

The December 14 indirect election of Kavelashvili, Georgia’s first of its kind, has been challenged by opposition parties, the incumbent president, and some legal experts. President Salome Zourabichvili has called Kavelashvili’s election a “provocation” and a “parody.” Meanwhile, Kavelashvili has publicly received congratulations from five countries only – Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, and Serbia.