Parliament Speaker: We Will Definitely Support One Presidential Candidate
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, August 28
Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze has stated that the Georgian Dream ruling party will definitely support one of the presidential candidates for the October 28 presidential race, amid the large-scale speculations that former Foreign Minister, now independent MP Salome Zourabichvili will be the ruling team’s pick in the elections.
The statement somehow interrupted the doubts that the Georgian Dream would have regardless named its candidate, as Zourabichvili has been grilled for her attitude to media and her statement that Georgia was provoked to start the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.
Georgian PM Mamuka Bakhtadze said in his earlier statement that the ruling team was not unanimous over the party’s position to the elections, which triggered the suspicion that the Georgian Dream might not support Zourabichvili.
‘We will definitely support one of the presidential candidates. We are now waiting for the full list of presidential nominees. We will not have our candidate in the race,” Kobakhidze said.
Zourabichvili, who called on journalists to “shake their brains” and not ask the same questions, has stated that she is “patiently waiting for the ruling party’s decision.”
Before voicing the hope for the support, Zourabichvili stated about the Russia-Georgia war that Russia has been trying to stir conflicts in Georgia for, and the Mikheil Saakashvili’s government should not have been provoked and involved in the war.
Current President Giorgi Margvelashvili has not yet announced his plans regarding the elections. He said that he is in the process of making a decision.
He will have to announce in the coming days, as September 8 is the deadline for presidential candidates to register themselves in the Central Election Commission officially.
Georgia will elect the fifth president on October 28 who, based on the current constitution, will have significantly decreased powers compared to the prime minister who is now the main figure in the country.
It will be the last presidential elections when the people elect the president as for the following race the president will be elected by delegates from Tbilisi and regions.
