Election Shock!
OPED
The only thing I can tell you is that Tina Khidasheli is not going to leave me - former Speaker of Parliament David Usupashvili told journalists regarding who else was planning to leave the Republican Party. Former Minister of Defense, Tina Khidasheli, confirmed she would not leave her family or her husband, Usupashvili. We can boldly state that the above-said is the only thing we know for sure about the Georgian politics so far since the elections. Everything else, for example which political face is going where or who is leaving which party, is as ambiguous as ever. In short, Georgian politics is still suffering from election shock.
Nobody imagined such triumph from the governmental party. The defeated are still figuring out what happened and how Georgian Dream, with its tasteless election slogan, was able to win these elections. That said, political life will go on with or without Mr. Usupashvili and its future will become clearer in the days to come. But before that the victorious are also facing the dilemma of who they should keep in the new government and who not. Who will replace Usupashvili and many other parliamentary nuances is yet to be decided.
Georgian Dream will surely spend the upcoming months figuring out who will get which office or car. However, politics has its own rules and GD also have to think about forming the government. The exact date for the first parliamentary session has not been announced by the President yet, but it is already known he will designate Giorgi Kvirikashvili to continue as PM. Some ministers will hold the former positions, while some will change building. For example, Davit Sergeenko will continue ase Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Dimitry Kumsishvili will change building and move to the Ministry of Finance in Ortachala district- his former seat to be taken by Giorgi Gakharia. It is confirmed that Kvirikashvili’s new cabinet will now be without the Minister of Infrastructure Nodar Javakhishvili, MoF Nodar Khaduri, Minister of Culture Mikheil Giorgadze and Minister of Interior Affairs Giorgi Mgebrishvili. All this means that we are waiting for changes.
Kakhi Kaladze plans to return to the post of the Minister in the government, we only need to know in which Ministry – Energy as before or Interior Affairs. Kaladze’s “presidential ambitions” are not new to anyone. The former soccer player from FC Milan plans to become the President in future. Everything will depend on those constitutional amendments which are planned by the government. If they decide to further decrease the authority of that institution and decree that the President should be elected by Parliament, then Kaladze will prefer being the Minister of Energy rather than merely hold a nominal post. However, if the power of the President will remain as it is and he will be chosen through elections, no doubt Kaladze will aim for the post of Minister of Interior Affairs. His decisions will depend on the abovementioned criteria.
In reality, Kaladze is an issue to PM Kvirikashvili, who at the moment does not have time to deal with him. The Georgian Lari, as the financial specialists say, still laments Misha Saakashvili. The National Currency continues falling drastically and it is clear that Kvirikashvili’s main challenge now is the country’s economy, however, he has a lot more to look after than that.
Zaza Jgarkava