Georgian Dream ready for presidential race

The Georgian Dream governing coalition announced that Minister for Education and Vice Prime Minister, Giorgi Margvelashvili, will be its candidate for the presidency. He was nominated by Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili and anonymously supported by members of the coalition. As soon as Ivanishvili declared the name of the candidate, he requested President Mikheil Saakashvili to provide a concrete date for the presidential elections.

Now it is the turn of the analysts and politicians to offer their opinion about the Georgian Dream candidate’s pros and cons and evaluate his past life and future. Obviously the media will delve deep into his personal history.

PM Ivanishvili kept the public in suspense regarding his choice of candidate for some time, promising to reveal the name of the candidate by May. However, by May 11, the public still remained in the dark. The number of potential candidates was many– as much as ten were a possibility. When Margvelashvili was officially nominated on May 11, the newspaper Rezonansi published an interview with him and in it he mentioned that he was not a serious candidate for the presidency. However, in the newspaper Alia, a day before, Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava suggested Margevlashvili as a possible candidate for the presidency.

According to Ivanishvili the candidate for presidency had to be a person who would fit the new model of the presidential institute. The rights and powers of Georgia’s president will be diminished considerably in October of this year. Instead, the PM will be granted all the current rights and powers the president formerly possessed.

According to Ivanishvili, Giorgi Margvelashvili fits this model most of all. In addition, the PM expressed his confidence that Margvelashvili has all the merits to become a good president. He mentioned that Margvelashvili is among two or three people whom he can consult with at anytime on any matter. Margvelashvili also represents an acceptable candidate for all of society, the PM added.

Georgian Dream Coalition members have praised the decision of the PM and have expressed the utmost support for Margvelashvili’s candidacy. As for the opposition United National Movement, its members criticize the decision and predict a very poor performance during the elections for him.

According to Tamar Chirgoleishvili, the editor-in-chief of the pro-UNM magazine Tabula, Margvelashvili is weak, unstable and incompetent. The UNM promises to select its candidate for the presidency via primaries. It is the first time this model is being applied for selecting the candidate. Until recently, President Saakashvili had no competitor whatsoever. Among the UNM's possible candidates are Vano Merabishvili, Gia Baramidze and Davit Bakradze. Gigi Ugulava refused to run for the elections, saying that he had been elected as a mayor of Tbilisi and his term expires in 2014.

There is also the possibility that non-parliamentary parties will also nominate their own candidate. However, one does not need to be a fortune-teller to say that the candidate from the Georgian Dream coalition will run first in the presidential race. So we can say with much confidence that Georgia’s next president will be Giorgi Margvelashvili.