Supported by the Georgian Dream party, Kavelashvili was voted president by obtaining 224 votes from 225 college electors.
Kavelashvili co-founded "Power to the People" in 2022, a populist group where he has held the position of political secretary since March 2024.
A former players' agent after the end of his career in 2007, he had tried, unsuccessfully, to run for president of the Georgian Football Federation in 2015, being deemed ineligible for lack of the required diploma.
At City, he spent two years between 1997-1999, having signed from Dinamo Tbilisi.
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