Tbilisi City Assembly Elects New Chair
Zurab Abashidze was elected chair of the Tbilisi City Assembly during a session on May 23, replacing Giorgi Tkemaladze, who vacated the position to become Vice Mayor of Tbilisi.
“First of all, I want to thank everyone for their support, and truly, it is a great honor to be the chair of Georgia’s capital city, Tbilisi City Assembly. Of course, this position gives me the opportunity to resolve more issues, the current problems that exist in the capital,” Abashidze said to the media.
Abashidze, 52, was an opposition politician during the UNM government (2003-2012), and served as secretary general of the Free Democrats party from 2009 to 2010. The party, led by Irakli Alasania, was part of Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream coalition until November 5, 2014. At that time, Abashidze was the MP and deputy speaker. The Free Democrats failed to cross the 5% threshold in the 2016 parliamentary elections, following which, ex-Defense Minister (2012-2014), Alasania, quit politics. Two days later, Abashidze, along with four other senior party members, also left the party.
From 2017 to 2021, Abashidze was Georgia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Kazakhstan. He has been the deputy chair of the City Assembly since 2021.
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