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BRUSSELS — Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced his resignation on Monday amid reports he’ll be replaced by the chairman of his ruling Georgian Dream party.
Garibashvili, who had been two years into his second stint as prime minister, did not announce a successor.
The pro-government Imedi channel reported he is expected to switch positions with Irakli Kobakhidze, Georgian Dream’s current chairman.
Garibashvili confirmed he had been offered the position of Georgian Dream’s chairman, ascribing his resignation to the party’s “internal democratic principle of rotation,” and saying it needed to prepare for this year’s parliamentary election.
“There are many successful leaders in the team and it’s important for others to be given an opportunity,” Garibashvili said in a televised address.
Expected reshuffle
Expectations of a government reshuffle increased after Bidzina Ivanishvili, the ruling party’s founder, suddenly returned to politics as Georgian Dream’s honorary chair in December 2023. He was rumored to be looking to sack Garibashvili ahead of the election as accusations of the prime minister’s involvement in corruption mounted in the country.
Garibashvili succeeded Ivanishvili as prime minister after the latter resigned in November 2013.
Ivanishvili returned to politics in 2018 as Georgian Dream’s chairman but retired in January 2021, shortly after securing his party’s victory in the October 2020 parliamentary election. He pledged at the time that his departure from politics was final as he had “accomplished” his mission.
Since then, however, Ivanishvili has been widely regarded as Georgia’s informal ruler, calling the shots despite holding no official position in the party or government.
Georgian Dream seeks a fourth consecutive victory in the parliamentary ballot, but Ivanishvili said his latest comeback did not aim principally to strengthen the party going into the election. Instead, he said, he wanted to protect the party’s leadership from possible corruption and internal rifts.
Key election for Georgia’s EU bid
Georgia became an EU membership candidate country in November 2023, with the Commission setting nine benchmarks the country must meet in order to join, including holding free, fair and competitive elections.
Even as it pursues the country’s EU membership, however, the Georgian Dream government has been criticized for its authoritarian tendencies, and even for appeasing Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last year it tried to enact a Putin-style law that would have required all organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as foreign agents; the bill was dropped after mass protests.
Opposition parties claim that Ivanishvili is actually holding Georgia back on its path to EU membership.
“What is clear is that the Russian-made oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili is reshuffling his pack to tighten his grip on power as elections approach,” said MP Tina Bokuchava from the opposition United National Movement party.
After the new prime ministerial candidate is announced, the Georgian parliament will have two weeks to approve a new government.
