The Daily Beat: 29 January
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced his resignation at a special briefing this afternoon, confirming the news actively disseminated by media since Monday morning about the expected spat of posts between the Georgian Dream Chair, Irakli Kobakhidze, and PM Garibashvili. Irakli Garibashvili explained his resignation by party democracy, saying it is necessary to “give others a chance.” At a special briefing, the prime minister also claimed that he had accepted an offer to become chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
The ruling Georgian Dream MPs confirm that the party Chair, Irakli Kobakhidze, is being considered a substitute for PM Garibashvili. The official nomination of Irakli Kobakhidze as a PM candidate is planned at a party conference scheduled for 1st February. Opposition media outlets suggest that current defense, foreign affairs, justice, health ministers, as well as “die-hard” culture minister won’t be included in a new cabinet.
Opposition parties reacted to the resignation of the Prime Minister, linking it to Bidzina Ivanishvili’s political comeback and corruption scandals allegedly involving PM Garibashvili and his family members. Opposition politicians argue that replacing one Irakli with another won’t have any meaningful impact on Georgian politics since Bidzina Ivanishvili continues to hold absolute power, pulling the triggers from behind the scenes.
A working meeting between the representatives of the ruling party, the opposition, and civil society on the Government’s action plan of measures to implement the European Commission’s nine conditions was held in the Parliament. Most opposition MPs are skeptical of the ruling party’s intentions to demonstrate substantial progress in the reform process, urging the public not to have high expectations. The opposition Lelo party boycotted the meeting, while some influential CSOs like TI-Georgia, GYLA, and ISFED did not attend the meeting due to “technical misunderstandings” with the ruling party.
The European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar’s request to visit Abkhazia has been denied, reported Jam News, publishing Toivo Klaar’s personal statement. According to him, this is the second refusal by de facto Abkhaz authorities in the past six months.
Following the publication of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) Index, in which Georgia was ranked third out of six countries, behind Moldova and Ukraine, and was said to have “lost significant ground across both democracy and good governance, and policy convergence indicators,” Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, slammed the authors of the Index, accusing them of sending inaccurate information about Georgia to European structures. According to the speaker, the Georgian authors of the index “are angry with the Georgian government, and they have taken out their anger on Georgia.”
Public Defender Levan Ioseliani appointed a new deputy, Irine Chikhladze, who will supervise children’s rights, gender equality, the rights of persons with disabilities, and equality-related issues. The position became vacant when former Deputy Public Defender Natia Julakidze resigned following allegations of nepotism and lack of human rights experience. A new Deputy Public Defender has extensive experience working for the local United Water Supply Company in various positions, and she is also a visiting professor of competition law and European law at the Georgian National University (SEU).
