Georgian Dream nominates Defense Min., previous PM Garibashvili for premiership
The political council of the ruling Georgian Dream party has nominated Defense Minister Irakli Garibashvili, who has already served as prime minister in 2013-2015, for the post of the Georgian premiership.
The post of the prime minister of Georgia became vacant today after Giorgi Gakharia, who held this position, resigned.
As Gakharia explained, one of the main reasons for his resignation was his disagreement with the decision to arrest the leader of the opposition party Nika Melia, which caused him to have “disagreements with the team.”
Who is Irakli Garibashvili
Irakli Garibashvili has already been the prime minister of Georgia once before – from November 20, 2013 to December 23, 2015.
After two years as prime minister of Georgia, he resigned on December 23, 2015.
Garibashvili informed the people of his resignation in a pre-recorded five-minute televised address. In it, he spoke about the achieved “historical results”, but did not say anything about the reasons for his decision.
“Positions are temporary. The Lord and the Motherland are eternal. Therefore, today I decided to leave the post of prime minister,” Garibashvili said then.
Later, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, former prime minister and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, admitted that the decision to resign was the result of his consultations with him.
Garibashvili became prime minister in November 2013, replacing Bidzina Ivanishvili. Before that, he headed the Ministry of Internal Affairs for a year.
Garibashvili became involved in politics with Ivanishvili at the end of 2011, having previously worked for eight years in Ivanishvili’s business structures.
Garibashvili is the only retired high-ranking official whom Ivanishvili praised after his departure from office (in contrast to former Prime Minister Kvirikashvili and former President Margvelashvili, whom Ivanishvili sharply criticized).
In March 2019, Irakli Garibashvili unexpectedly returned to the post of General Secretary of the Georgian Dream party, and then became Minister of Defense.
