GD Majority Names Finance Minister as PM Candidate
The Georgian Dream (GD) majority presented acting Finance Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze as the Prime Minister candidate on June 14, a day after the former PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili decided to resign.
The majority made the decision after a Thursday evening meeting.
According to the Georgian Constitution, when a prime minister resigns, the power of the Cabinet's 14 ministers is automatically suspended, meaning the entire government of Georgia has resigned.
During the next seven days, the President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, will present a candidate for prime minister, selected by the Parliamentary Majority, to Parliament for approval.
The candidate for prime minister can maintain the previous Cabinet or change some ministers and present them before the Parliament of Georgia for confirmation.
Afterwards, the candidate for prime minister and the new Cabinet have to be confirmed by the lawmakers.
If the MPs do not support the presented candidate or the updated Cabinet of Ministers three times, the country’s President has the right to dissolve Parliament and appoint snap parliamentary elections.
Mamuka Bakhtadze is the fourth PM presented by the GD majority since they came to power in 2012.
Bakhtadze was born on June 9, 1982. He served as Director General of the Georgian Railway from April of 2013 to November 13 of 2017. Bakhtadze assumed the post of the Finance Minister in November of the last year.
After the GD meeting, the PM candidate stated Georgia is the unity of people and citizens, and a person "has always been and will be the main value of the Georgian Dream party."
“Each initiative or effort that will be implemented by us will be oriented on the people and their support, on improvement of their freedom. For this purpose, it is necessary to be principled, to work in a team, to have a high competence and consolidation of all ideas. I'm sure we will achieve this and Georgia will become a strong, united, European country," said Bakhtadze.
By Thea Morrison
Photo source: 1 TV