Georgia's ruling party nominates Irakli Kobakhidze for prime minister

Georgia’s ruling party has put forward Irakli Kobakhidze as the candidate for reappointment as Prime Minister, with the nomination officially announced by the party’s honorary chairman, Bidzina Ivanishvili. 

The decision was revealed during a briefing by Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream party, following a meeting of the party’s political council, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

According to Mdinaradze, under the party’s charter, it is within the rights and authority of the honorary chairman to propose a candidate for the position of Prime Minister.

“There will be no surprise that Bidzina Ivanishvili has nominated Irakli Kobakhidze for the position of Prime Minister. Naturally, this proposal has been fully supported by the political council,” he stated.

In addition to Kobakhidze’s nomination, Mdinaradze confirmed that Shalva Papuashvili, the current Speaker of Parliament, would be the party’s candidate for the position of parliamentary speaker.

Notably, scuffles erupted in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, as police moved to dismantle a protest camp set up in response to last month’s disputed parliamentary election. The camp, which had blocked a main road, was cleared by officers before dawn on Tuesday. Despite this, thousands of demonstrators returned later to re-establish the site.

The ongoing protest, sparked by the October 26 election, which saw the ruling Georgian Dream party retain power, is driven by accusations of electoral fraud and suspected Russian influence. Many protesters view the election as a crucial moment for Georgia’s bid to join the European Union.

Several arrests were made during the dispersal, and demonstrators, some carrying EU flags, reassembled in the evening, swelling the crowd to several thousand. Elene Khoshtaria, leader of the opposition Coalition for Change, vowed the protests would continue, condemning the police action as a sign of weakness.

President Salome Zourabichvili, who has rejected the official results, filed a lawsuit alleging violations of voting rights at the constitutional court, claiming that the election breached constitutional principles. Zourabichvili, while holding a largely ceremonial role, has accused Moscow of pressuring Georgia to abandon its EU ambitions.

Critics of the Georgian Dream party, founded by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, argue that the government has grown increasingly authoritarian and pro-Russian.

By Aghakazim Guliyev