“Honorary Chairman” to Formally Wield Power According to GD Updated Statute

Amendments to the ruling Georgian Dream party’s statute, approved at the party’s December 30 congress, were published on January 8. The updated statute introduces an “Honorary Chairman” position, currently held by party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, who was elected as such at the congress. The updated statute formalizes the powers that Ivanishvili has always had, being in politics, albeit behind the scenes.

On December 30, Bidzina Ivanishvili officially returned to politics for the third time, becoming “honorary chairman” of the “Georgian Dream” party. Speaking at the GD party congress, Ivanishvili said that the reason for his return was “to protect the excessively strong team from human temptation.”

Opposition parties, however, said that Ivanishvili’s comeback was a formalization of his semi-formal governance, that he had never actually left politics, and that his return showed Georgian Dream’s loss of power ahead of crucial parliamentary elections in 2024.

The statute bestows upon Ivanishvili’s a range of powers, formalizing the concentration of power in one hand, without outlining the accountability mechanisms for the party’s “Honorary Chairman.”

To emphasize Ivanishvili’s contribution to the country and the ruling party, the document states that the party congress will elect a person “who has rendered special services to his country and the party” to the position of “Honorary Chairman” and this person is “the main political advisor to the party.”

The thus customized status of ‘honorary chairman’ goes beyond symbolic recognition, formalizing Ivanishvili’s tangible influence and positioning him as the party’s ‘center of gravity’, as he declared upon his third return to politics. The statute explicitly states that one of his key roles is to nominate the country’s prime ministerial candidate, who must then be approved by the party’s political council. Given the strong acceptance of the legitimacy of the party’s patron, the prospect that the political council would ever dare to reject Ivanishvili’s candidate seems almost impossible.

According to the updated statute, the political council of the party, which approves the candidate for Prime Minister’s position, consists of the “honorary chairman”, i.e. Bidzina Ivanishvili himself, the chairman, who is now Irakli Kobakhidze, and 15 other members of the party approved by the congress. Meetings of the political council itself can be convened either by the Honorary Chairman or the Chairman, or at the request of at least a-third of the council’s members. The Honorary Chairman also has the right to call extraordinary party congresses.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)