PM: If Vashadze Wins, It Will Undermine Georgia’s Achievements
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, November 15
Georgian Prime Minister, Mamuka Bakhtadze says that if the presidential candidate of the United Opposition Grigol Vashadze wins the presidential elections, it will undermine Georgia’s achievements.
The PM made the statement on November 14, saying nomination of Vashadze, who is the member of the former ruling party United National Movement (UNM), set up by ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, is the step towards matching the Russian interests.
"Vashadze's candidacy is a step taken by Saakashvili towards the interests of Russia and, therefore, the victory of the revanchists means questioning all those achievements, which we have been able to jointly achieve,” he stressed.
According to Bakhtadze, every citizen of Georgia has to make a principled choice between the “totalitarian past and the European future.”
“I am sure that Georgian people will choose progress and European future," Bakhtadze said.
Grigol Vashadze was born in Georgia but he graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1981 and worked for the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, simultaneously doing his postgraduate training in international law at the Soviet Diplomatic Academy.
For some time, he was a member of the Soviet diplomatic team at the START I talks with the United States. He worked in the Department of International Organizations and Department of Cosmos and Nuclear Weapons of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union.
From 1990 to 2008, Vashadze engaged in private business and lived mostly in Moscow and New York. He returned to Georgia in 2005.
In February 2008, he was appointed as Deputy to the Foreign Minister David Bakradze whom he succeeded as an acting minister in April 2008. He continued to work as Deputy Foreign Minister and became Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia in December 2008. In July 2018, he was nominated as a presidential candidate for Georgian presidential elections by United National Movement and 9 other opposition parties.
Last week, in his interview with Deutsche Welle, Vashadze said he is proud of being a diplomat of the Soviet times, adding he gained a lot of experience during those years.
“I was a Soviet diplomat and I am proud of it. I took part in negotiations that made our lives more secure. This is a ban on chemical weapons, prohibition of nuclear experiments ... I've gone through a fantastic school," Vashadze said.
On October 28, during the first round of the presidential elections, Salome Zurabishvili, a candidate backed by the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, got 38.64% of votes, followed by Vashadze with 37.74%.
The second round of the elections is scheduled for November 28.
