Georgia Ruling Party Loyalist Kavelashvili Elected as President

Georgia's ruling party on Saturday elected the country's president in a controversial election process amid a constitutional crisis and after weeks of mass pro-EU protests.

An electoral college, controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party and boycotted by the opposition, elected Mikheil Kavelashvili with 224 votes as the country's next figurehead leader for a five-year term, central election commission chair Giorgi Kalandarishvili said, AFP reported.

The sitting president Salome Zurabishvili has declared the vote "illegitimate" and refused to step down.