The Daily Beat: 1st February

The chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, has been officially nominated as PM candidate by the party congress. At the same gathering, former PM Irakli Garibashvili was elected as the party chair, replacing Irakli Kobakhidze in this post. The PM candidate needs parliament’s endorsement, but since the Georgian Dream has a majority, he will have no problem getting the approval.

Freshly nominated PM candidate Irakli Kobakhidze claims that all the ministers will remain in office except for the defense minister Juansher Burchuladze, who will be replaced by the deputy speaker of the parliament, Irakli Chikovani. Defense Minister Burchuladze told journalists he had been offered the post of Georgia’s Ambassador to NATO, which he would “likely” accept.

Addressing the party congress, Irakli Garibashvili briefly outlined achievements of past years, expressing special gratitude to the founder of the Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, for his decisive efforts and tremendous contributions. During the speech, he also noted that the Georgian Dream party is the only guarantor of peace, democratic development and prosperity in the country, claiming to win a convincing victory over the malign force – United National Movement and its satellites in the 2024 parliamentary elections.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that former Mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava’s right to an “independent and impartial tribunal established by law” guaranteed by Article 6 § 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights was violated by including former Prosecutor General Shalva Tadumadze on Supreme Court bench that ruled on his points-of-law appeal. The ECtHR concluded that the inclusion of former Prosecutor General Shalva Tadumadze on the Supreme Court bench that ruled on Ugulava’s points-of-law appeal was sufficient to cast doubt on the “objective impartiality” of that court.

EU Ambassador Paweł Herczyński attended the launching event of ISFED’s project “Supporting Free and Fair Election Cycle in Georgia” and spoke of election monitoring importance. “We are waiting for the government of Georgia to invite long-term electoral observation of OSCE/ODIHR, and of course, as European Union, we are also supporting reputable, respectable civil society organizations that are specialized in educating voters…,” Ambassador Herczyński told the journalists, also stressing that free and fair elections are crucial for the country in moving forward on the EU path.

The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Steering Committee and the Coordination Council of the EaP CSF National Platform of Georgia issued a joint statement, denouncing the “defamation campaign” carried out by the affiliated media of the ruling coalition member party “People’s Power” and the “dangerous statements” made by members of the ruling Georgian Dream party against the Georgian authors of the 2023 edition of the EaP Index.