Georgia
The Bitter Standoff Over Georgia's Next President
TBILISI — Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili recently posted a photo of New Year’s decorations at the presidential residence in Tbilisi. “They put a train in front of the Orbeliani Palace,” she wrote on Facebook. “Let’s see who will be leaving.”
On December 14, an electoral college dominated by the ruling Georgian Dream party is expected to choose Mikheil Kavelashvili, a 53-year-old former footballer and right-wing populist, as Georgia’s next president. The inauguration is set to take place on December 29.
But with Georgia rocked by ongoing anti-government protests, the 72-year-old Zurabishvili, whose term ends this year, has said she isn’t going anywhere.
“There will be no inauguration and my mandate continues,” the incumbent said on November 30.
The Diplomat Vs. The Footballer
The backgrounds and political outlooks of the two politicians couldn’t be more different.
Zurabishvili was born in France to a family of Georgian exiles who fled the Red Army invasion in 1921. She served for decades as a French diplomat before becoming the Georgian foreign minister in 2004. As her political star rose, she appealed more to urban and progressive segments of Georgian society, a consistent advocate of the country’s integration with the European Union.
Not for the first time, she has sided with protesters who for over two weeks have taken to the streets across the country to protest the government putting Georgia’s EU accession on hold. The authorities have responded with a violent crackdown, targeting protesters, opposition activists, and journalists.
While initially endorsed by Georgian Dream for her successful presidential run in 2018, Zurabishvili has been a thorn in the ruling party’s side. Although officially a nonpartisan president limited to a ceremonial role, Zurabishvili has criticized Georgian Dream for its increasingly authoritarian stance.
Whereas Zurabishvili has frequently portrayed herself as a champion of democracy, Kavelashvili has portrayed himself as a champion of the people. Presenting himself as a Georgian everyman, Kavelashvili is a celebrated footballer who had a successful career abroad playing in Switzerland, England, and Russia.
After entering parliament in 2016, Kavelashvili went on to found the People’s Power party, a more radical, anti-Western offshoot of Georgian Dream. Appealing to the country’s conservative rural heartlands, he frequently contrasts “traditional Georgian values” with what he sees as the degeneracy of Western liberalism and has taken a hard line on immigration and national sovereignty.
Kavelashvili has the backing of Georgian Dream and the party’s uber-powerful founder, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. “He is the best embodiment of a Georgian man. A wonderful husband and father of four children,” Ivanishvili said when he presented the presidential candidate on November 27.
Disputed Elections
At the heart of the standoff is the dispute over the country’s recent parliamentary elections. In an October 26 vote, Georgian Dream declared a resounding victory, winning 54 percent, while the four collaborating opposition forces received 38 percent.
International observers and the opposition cried foul, saying the result was flawed, with widespread irregularities and ballot fraud. Zurabishvili has said the elections were “stolen” with the help of Russia and sees the parliament — and thus the electoral college — as illegitimate.
Zurabishvili is the last Georgian president to be voted directly by the people. In 2017, Georgia adopted a new system of indirect presidential elections as part of constitutional changes ostensibly aimed at strengthening parliamentary democracy, reducing political polarization, and aligning with European norms where presidents are usually restricted to ceremonial roles.
Critics of the reform, however, say it’s a power grab by Georgian Dream, designed to weaken political competition and erode potential checks on parliamentary and governmental authority.
Mounting Tensions
Since taking office in 2012, Georgian Dream has faced growing criticism for its creeping authoritarianism, including accusations of election tampering, judicial interference, and media repression. Over the last year, Georgia has been criticized by the United States and the European Union for its controversial anti-LGBT and “foreign agent” laws, which were both enthusiastically endorsed by Kavelashvili.
As thousands of Georgians continue to protest in the capital, facing brutal police tactics, there have been unsubstantiated rumors floating around that Zurabishvili was going to barricade herself inside the presidential palace. Many protesters fear police are going to start clearing Rustaveli Avenue, where the demonstrations are centered, ahead of the election.
The vote is expected to begin at 9 a.m. local time on December 14, with the results announced that day. While there are members of the opposition in the electoral college, they are refusing to take part. And since there is only one candidate, there is no possibility of a second round.
This isn’t the first time Georgia has faced such a situation. After being elected as the country’s first president in May 1991, Zviad Gamsakhurdia was ousted in a coup. In exile, he refused to cede power or acknowledge the new government led by Eduard Shevardnadze, the Glasnost-era Soviet foreign minister.
In 1993, Gamsakhurdia returned to Georgia, leading an unsuccessful armed resistance but died later that year under mysterious circumstances.
The result of the December 14 presidential vote will almost certainly not be recognized by Georgia’s opposition or civil society activists. While Kavelashvili and the ruling party remain popular among some Georgians — especially those untouched by the demonstrations — Zurabishvili has the support of the protesters, whose violent treatment by riot police has shocked many in Georgia.
“I am protected by the people who are out on the streets,” she told the BBC on December 1. “I think that the ruling party is very isolated today and it will become even more isolated.”
The Georgia baseball team had long since poured out of the Foley Field home dugout and the water bottles that were thrown on the field in jubilation had been cleaned up.
The Bulldogs celebration that carried into center field after a 13-8 victory on Saturday night over LSU on May 9 had ended and players had doused coach Wes Johnson with blue sports drink.
Now, some 20 minutes later, it was postgame photo time for the freshly minted 2026 SEC regular season champions.
They gathered in front of the spot on the right field wall where the previous seven seasons of Georgia SEC championships were listed, the last in 2008. Above them on the video board was a graphic that recognized this year’s team as SEC champions.
“Watching the program grow in such a shot amount of time, it’s awesome,” said pitcher Paul Farley, who has been with the Bulldogs for all three seasons with Johnson and got the win in relief Saturday. “We’ve got four SEC games left and to be able to hang that up there the SEC champs already it’s amazing.”
Farley was speaking figuratively because the 2026 numbers weren’t on the outfield fence just yet.
Fifth-ranked Georgia (40-11, 20-6 SEC) still has a chance to put a College World Series trip up there in left field for the first time since 2008 and in a best case scenario add another national championship year in right field with the 1990 season.
“SEC champs is great, but obviously we want to do bigger and better things,” Farley said.
LSU, the team that won it all last season, was still around having a postgame talk on the artificial turf field long after the game ended.
Johnson was with LSU in 2023 as pitching coach when it won another College World Series.
“It’s massive,” Johnson said of this latest championship. “Anytime you can win this league, man, it’s so hard. Then win it outright. It’s something you want to check off on your list of things you’ve ever accomplished. It’s 10 weekends of just meat house grinding.”
Johnson said he didn’t know that the dominoes had fallen Saturday to set up Georgia being able to clinch except that he saw that Texas lost at Tennessee as the result flashed on the scoreboard.
Texas A&M also lost twice at Ole Miss to set up the clinch for Georgia.
“I’m calling pitches, I’m locked in,” Johnson said.
He said assistant coach Will Coggin told him when the game ended that ‘We’re champs.’”
Many of the players knew.
“We had a few inside operatives, I’d say, tell us,” Farley said.
Shortstop Kolby Branch said he didn’t know “until the water bottles started flying.”
Branch said another Georgia team loaded with transfers grew closer in the fall and built relationships that have turned into wins this season.
Johnson said winning the regular season title in his third season as coach in the age of the transfer portal and NIL “means a lot.”
Johnson mentioned Farley, Branch and Tre Phelps being at Georgia for all three of his seasons.
“Seeing where we were in the first fall, we forget this used to be dirt and grass,” Johnson said standing on on turf field. “And we didn’t have the cool building and we only had one batting cage, all the stuff we’ve been able to do since we’ve been here. The other side is just understanding true belief and understanding what guys can do.”
CHARLOTTE, N.C. –Georgia Tech softball (30-27, 10-14 ACC) collected its second postseason conference honor as first baseman Addison Leschber was named to the 2026 ACC All-Tournament Team, as was announced by the conference following the 2026 ACC Softball Championship game on Saturday.
Leschber is Tech softball’s first All-Tournament honoree since Emma Kauf during the 2023 season. During the First Round of the ACC Championships, Leschber was nothing short of exceptional as she went 2-for-4 with one home run, one double, and five RBI. Leschber’s first-inning home run brought her to 13 home runs this season, the third most of any Yellow Jacket this season. In Tech’s fourth meeting of the season with Notre Dame, Leschber saw her 12th multi-RBI game and ninth multi-hit game of the season. The senior finished the season with 26 runs, 37 hits, seven doubles, 13 home runs, 42 RBI, and 83 total bases.
2026 ACC Softball Championship All-Tournament Team
Jessica Oakland, Duke
Addison Leschber, Georgia Tech
Bri Despines, Louisville
Madison Pickens, Louisville
Bree Carrico, Virginia Tech
Michelle Chatfield, Virginia Tech
Emma Mazzarone, Virginia Tech
Jasyoni Beachum, Florida State
Ashtyn Danley, Florida State
Jazzy Francik, Florida State (MVP)
Isa Torres, Florida State
UP NEXT
The Yellow Jackets will await their fate in the NCAA Tournament Selection show on Sunday, May 10, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech softball team, follow us on Twitter (@GaTechSoftball), Facebook, Instagram (@GaTechsoftball) or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.
Kirby Smart hasn’t hid from how Georgia goes about doling out dollars to its roster.
He wants veterans to make more than newcomers.
“I don’t want you to have to take a discount,” Smart recently told Josh Pate. “OK, a discount might be a little less than year one or two. We have we have traditionally paid our players junior and senior year as much as anybody at those positions. We don’t want to start [earlier] because I want you to earn it and work your way up.”
Smart acknowledges that route might hurt Georgia in recruiting. The 2026 recruiting cycle seems to reflect that. It was the first time Georgia signed a recruiting class that finished outside the top five of the 247Sports Composite rankings since Smart’s first class back in 2016. The Bulldogs had just two players finish in the top 50 of the player rankings, the fewest ever for a Smart signing haul.
Coming out of spring practice, it seems like the Bulldogs did a good job of identifying players who could fit and play immediately. Craig Dandridge, Tyriq Green, Khamari Brooks and Zykie Helton all had strong springs. None were viewed as top 50 overall prospects.
As for the top players on Georgia’s 2026 roster, most of them are in either their third or fourth seasons. KJ Bolden, Ellis Robinson, Nate Frazier and Chris Cole all signed as members of the 2024 recruiting class. Gunner Stockton is in his fifth year at Georgia and second as a starter.
Georgia’s 2026 team will be an older team compared to the one the Bulldogs had last season. Consider that Georgia started the year with only 10 members of the 2022 class on the roster and 13 players from the 2023 recruiting class.
This year, that number is up to 29 when you combine the number of players from the 2023 and 2024 recruiting classes on the Georgia roster. Georgia’s 2026 team will have 34 players with at least three years of experience in Athens. Last season, that number was just 25.
Part of the reason Georgia’s roster is a better reflection of its spending in 2026 is because it did a much better job of retaining talent with its 2024 class than it did with the 2023 group.
Going into last season, 13 of the 26 members of the 2023 recruiting class were no longer a part of the roster.
With the 2024 group, Georgia still has 23 of the 29 players it signed from the 2024 high school recruiting ranks. Georgia also has transfers London Humphreys and Xzavier McLeod entering their third seasons in Athens.
The gap between the two classes is particularly stark at the top. Georgia has not had just one of the 10 top 100 players it signed in the 2024 class depart the program before their third season in Athens. With the 2023 group, six of the 12 top-100 signees had already left Athens.
For as much fretting as there might about the state of Georgia’s current recruiting, the 2024 class was ranked first in the country. That collection of players, which Georgia has been able to keep together, is set to enter their season in Athens.
Georgia paid big to keep players like Bolden, Robinson and Frazier from entering the transfer portal. There was a kernel of truth when Smart ribbed Miami coach Mario Cristobal about sitting too close to Robinson at an award ceremony.
Robinson figures to be one of the best players in the country this coming season. We’ve often seen top recruits — CJ Allen and Monroe Freeling are examples from the 2023 class — have their best seasons in year three, before heading off to the NFL.
That is why it’s so important to keep recruiting classes together and retain talent on an annual basis. Georgia has done a better job with the 2024 class compared to the 2023 class to this point. That’s a big reason why there aren’t as many questions and concerns about Georgia this offseason compared to last offseason, even if it has made Georgia a bit boring to talk about from a national perspective.
Texas, Miami and LSU all spent big money to bring in new talent. With Georgia, it paid top dollar to keep its roster together. No SEC team had fewer players transfer out than Georgia’s 12. That offsets some concern about the Bulldogs also making the fewest additions in the transfer portal.
“We had some new guys on our roster,” Smart told Pate. “We had 26 new freshmen. We had eight new portals. So like with all that going on, we had new people. But at least we knew they were ours. And going through spring practice to me was much more enjoyable because you didn’t have this big dark cloud brewing of was he going to be here?”
Georgia still built a very successful team in 2025, as the Bulldogs won the SEC and made it back to the College Football Playoff. But Georgia has bigger goals and Smart knows it.
“Apparently, all we can do is win the SEC championship right now, so that’s not good enough,” Smart told Finebaum.
The Bulldogs are hoping that a more veteran team will set them up for even more success than they had a season ago. And that veteran element was acquired by keeping its one-time recruits in Athens for seasons three and four.
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