The former chairman of Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream party has been appointed prime minister in a reshuffle ahead of general elections later this year.
Irakli Kobakhidze and his cabinet were approved on February 8 in an 84-10 vote in parliament that expressed confidence in the new government.
The reshuffle was touched off when Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on January 29 announced his resignation to give his party time to prepare for the general elections, which are to be held in the Caucasus nation by October.
Georgian media had previously reported that Kobakhidze would take Garibashvili’s place. He presented his government to the parliament earlier and outlined a program for the “construction of a European state.”
The only change in the cabinet is the defense minister. Deputy speaker of the parliament Irakli Chikovani will take over the post from Juansher Burchuladze, who was appointed on in February 2021.
Kobakhidze, 45, a German-educated lawyer, has held the job of Georgian Dream's chairman since 2021. From 2016 to 2019, Kobakhidze served as the parliament speaker but was forced to resign following mass demonstrations that erupted in Tbilisi when a Russian lawmaker chaired an assembly of legislators from Orthodox Christian countries in the parliament building.
Speaking in parliament on February 8, Kobakhidze said the government would work to end the Russian occupation of Georgia's breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and take efforts to overcome poverty.
Russia fought a brief war with Georgia in August 2008 after Tbilisi made a botched attempt to regain control over South Ossetia. Moscow then recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states and beefed up its military presence in them.
“Today, 20 percent of Georgia’s territory is occupied, and 15 percent of its citizens live on the verge of poverty," Kobakhidze said. "We can only be proud of our work when we reset these two figures to zero: 0 percent occupation and 0 percent poverty. This is the Georgian dream, and this is the Georgia we dream of.”
Kobakhidze also presented a 10-month plan that aims to bring ongoing initiatives to a close. As Kobakhidze explained, after the elections later this year a four-year government program will be presented based on the Georgian Dream election program.
Georgia was granted EU candidacy status in December at the same time that fellow former Soviet republics Ukraine and Moldova were given the green light to begin negotiations to join the bloc.
However, a report published last month by the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum -- an umbrella network of NGOs from the region and the European Union -- was critical of Georgia's backsliding on democracy and the rule of law under.
The report said Georgia was granted EU candidate status “even though” it had engaged in “anti-Western rhetoric” and attempted, but failed, to pass a controversial “foreign agents” bill last year.