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 critic of the ruling party, said in a defiant speech to supporters outside the presidential palace that she was leaving the residence butremained the legitimate officeholder.
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.
(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Felix Light; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Frances Kerry)
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