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GEORGIA-POLITICS-GOVERNMENT
Controversial interior minister in running for Georgia PM
TBILISI, Sept 3, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Georgia’s ruling party put forward controversial Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia as prime minister Tuesday, further fuelling an already tense political atmosphere in the tiny Black Sea nation.
In a televised statement, the ruling Georgian Dream party leader Bidzina Ivanishvili — a billionaire oligarch widely believed to be the man in charge in Georgia — said he “presented the candidacy of Giorgi Gakharia to the post of prime minister”.
The nomination is expected to easily win approval by parliament where Georgian Dream holds a majority.
The move followed Monday’s surprise resignation of premier Mamuka Bakhtadze after just over a year in office.
Gakharia thanked the ruling party for the nomination and announced changes in the cabinet.
He said he would appoint the head of Georgia’s state security service Vaktang Gomelauri as interior minister and former prime minister Irakli Garibashvili as defence minister.
– ‘Moscow’s man in Georgia’ –
In protest of Gakharia’s nomination, opposition MPs disrupted a plenary session of Georgia’s parliament chanting “shame!” and blowing vuvuzelas as hundreds of anti-government demonstrators rallied outside the legislature.
Independent analyst Nodar Kharshiladze said that by appointing a loyalist, Ivanishvili was preparing for parliamentary elections scheduled for October next year.
He called Gakharia “Georgia’s most hated politician” and said his nomination was “likely to mount a fresh wave of protests in the country.”
“The move undermines Georgia’s declared pro-Western orientation,” he said.
Gakharia, 44, is perceived by many as pro-Kremlin, due to the years he spent in Russia.
Opposition MP Salome Samadashvili said that “Gakharia’s nomination is dragging Georgia deeper into a political crisis”, describing him as “Moscow’s man in Georgia.”
In June and July, thousands rallied in Tbilisi demanding Gakharia’s departure after riot police used rubber bullets and tear gas against a largely peaceful anti-Russian protest.
Dozens were injured in the violent police crackdown, with several people losing an eye.
The summer protests started after a Russian MP gave a speech in the Georgian parliament — seen as a provocative move in the Caucasus country whose ties with Moscow remain strained after a brief war in 2008.
Moscow reacted to what it called “Russophobic” protests by suspending direct flights between the countries.
The rallies then evolved into a broader movement against Ivanishvili amid widespread anger at his party’s failure to kickstart a stagnant economy and Georgia’s perceived democratic backsliding.
Before his appointment as Georgia’s deputy prime minister and interior minister in 2017, he worked in Russia as a regional director of the German aviation company Lufthansa. He is also a graduate at Moscow’s Lomonosov University.
Announcing his resignation Monday, Bakhtadze said he had “accomplished his mandate of creating the strategic framework of Georgia’s development.”
BSS/AFP/SSS/1900 hrs