By Gleb Stolyarov and Felix Light
TBILISI (Reuters) -Mikheil Kavelashvili, a hardline critic of the West, was sworn in as president of Georgia on Sunday amid a political crisis after the government froze European Union application talks in a move that sparked major protests.
Outgoing President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-EU opponent of the ruling party, said in a defiant speech to supporters outside the presidential palace that she was leaving the residence, but that Kavelashvili had no legitimacy as president, which is a mostly ceremonial position.
She said: "I will come out of here and be with you."
"I am taking legitimacy with me, I am taking the flag with me, I am taking your trust with me," she added, before walking out of the palace to mingle with her supporters.
Zourabichvili says that Kavelashvili was not duly picked, as the lawmakers who chose him were elected in an October parliamentary election that she says was marked by fraud. Georgia's opposition parties support her.
The Georgian Dream ruling party and the country's election commission say that the October election was free and fair. The ruling party says Kavelashvili is the duly elected president.
The presidential standoff is seen as a watershed moment in Georgia, a mountainous country of 3.7 million that had until recently been regarded as among the most democratic and pro-Western of the former Soviet states.
Kavelashvili is a loyalist of Bidzina Ivanishvili, a reclusive billionaire ex-prime minister who is widely seen as Georgia’s de facto leader.
On Friday, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Ivanishvili, saying he was spearheading Georgia’s current anti-Western and pro-Russian turn.
PROTESTERS HOLD UP RED CARDS
Kavelashvili, a former professional soccer player who briefly played as a striker for Manchester City, has repeatedly accused Western intelligence agencies of plotting to drive Georgia into war with neighbouring Russia.
"The Georgian people have always understood that peace is the main prerequisite for survival and development," he said after being sworn in on Sunday.
Protesters outside parliament held up red cards in a mocking reference to Kavelashvili's athletic career. Local media reported that six people were briefly detained amid scuffles with the police.
"Right now, this so-called government is telling us that they inaugurated the new president, but there is no new president for us, for Georgian people who are standing here day and night," protester Mariam Japaridze told Reuters.
"We have only one legitimate president, and this is Salome Zourabichvili," she said.
Georgian Dream got almost 54% of the vote in October's election, according to official results.
Local and international election monitors have said the vote was marked by violations that could have affected the results. Western countries have called for an investigation.
Zourabichvili is backed by the country’s four main pro-EU opposition parties, which have boycotted parliament since the election. They say she will remain the legitimate president until fresh elections are held.
The confrontation comes amid a month of protests sparked by Georgian Dream's suspension of EU accession talks until 2028, abruptly halting a longstanding national goal of joining the bloc that is written into the country’s constitution.
The move touched off widespread anger among Georgians, who polls show are firmly pro-EU, and prompted a police crackdown, with over 400 people, including senior opposition leaders, detained.
Zourabichvili has accused Georgian Dream of deliberately sinking Georgia’s EU hopes and instead moving towards Russia, from which Georgia gained independence in 1991.
Opposition supporters say that under Zourabichvili, who was elected with Georgian Dream’s support in 2018 before breaking with the party in recent years, the presidency was the only institution in the country not ultimately under the control of ruling party founder Ivanishvili.
They say that with the installation of Kavelashvili, Ivanishvili will have total control over Georgia.