In late November, Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, nominated Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former parliamentary deputy and professional soccer player, as its candidate for president in an election due to be held on Saturday.

Kavelashvili, who played briefly for Manchester City as a striker in the mid-1990s, is a founder member of People’s Power, a splinter group of the ruling Georgian Dream party, and has a record of hardline, anti-Western statements.

His election is all but assured, as Georgian Dream dominates the electoral college of members of parliament and local government representatives.

Although the president’s post is largely ceremonial, the choice of Kavelashvili is likely to be viewed by the European Union and the United States as a further sign that Georgia is turning away from the West and moving closer to Russia.

He is set to succeed President Salome Zourabichvili, who was elected as an ally of the governing bloc, but has become a trenchant critic, accusing it of deliberately derailing Georgia’s EU accession hopes.

Zourabichvili has denounced last month's parliamentary election, won by Georgian Dream, as fraudulent, and opposition lawmakers have refused to take their seats in parliament.

On Friday evening, Zourabichvili called for a new parliament election.