Senior GD MP Says Kvirikashvili to Be Named as Next PM

Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who is now deputy PM and Foreign Minister, will be named by the Georgian Dream (GD) ruling coalition as next prime minister, a senior GD lawmaker, Gia Volski, said late on Thursday.

Kvirikashvili, 48, is expected to be formally named as a prime ministerial candidate on Friday morning to replace Irakli Garibashvili, who announced about resignation on Wednesday; Garibashvili remains an acting PM before the new one is confirmed by the Parliament.
 
MP Volski, who chairs the largest faction within the GD majority group in the Parliament, said in an interview with public broadcaster’s second channel that senior lawmakers from the ruling coalition had a “lengthy discussion about candidates and we informed about our opinion Irakli Garibashvili, who agreed with us.”

“Did he [Garibashvili] speak with [ex-PM] Bidzina Ivanishvili [about the proposed candidate]? Yes, he did,” MP Volski said.

He said that Kvirikashvili was picked from four potential candidates and he will be presented as a prime ministerial nominee by Garibashvili on Friday morning.

Kvirikashvili has served as Foreign Minister since early September, 2015; before that he was the Economy Minister.

Kvirikashvili, who has spent most of his career in financial and banking sectors before becoming Economy Minister in late October 2012, was a member of Parliament in 1999-2004 with the New Rights Party; he was deputy chair of the parliamentary committee on economic policy. Kvirikashvili was director general of ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Cartu Bank in 2006-2011.

After the prime ministerial candidate is formally named by the ruling coalition, President Giorgi Margvelashvili will present the candidate for confirmation to the Parliament. Prime Minister-designate will then nominate other cabinet members. Confirmation hearings in the Parliament, followed by vote, are expected for early next week.