Former PM criticizes President

In his interview with Imedi TV on March 18, Former Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili criticized President Giorgi Margvelashvili.

In Georgia’s current constitution, the president’s previous powers have been transferred to the Prime Minister’s hands.

This legislation was designed by the UNM with the goal of enabling then President Saakashvili to cling to power indefinitely via a legal loophole.

However, the UNM’s hope did not come true, the party lost the elections and Bidzina Ivanishvili became the Prime Minister.

Presidential elections were to be held in 2013. The leader of the Georgian Dream coalition, Bidzina Ivanishvili nominated the candidate for the presidency. According to Ivanishvili, Giorgi Margvelashvili completely satisfied the demands for the new presidency.

Although, there were other options like Irakli Alasania and Vakhtang Khmaladze, still Ivanishvili supported Margvelashvili’s candidacy. And as a result, Margvelashvili was elected as Georgia’s fourth president.

Compared to his active predecessor Saakashvili, Margvelashvili moves much more slowly. This is largely due most likely to the new and limited role of the president. In fact, the president is no longer the leading figure in either domestic or foreign affairs. He does not control the government, so he does not interfere in the corer affairs of the government.

In his recent interview, Ivanishvili mentioned that he had expected more from Margvelashvili. At first, there were certain misunderstandings between the two men.

Ivanishvili mentioned that the Georgian president appeared to have different features. He also highlighted that he does not have informal relations with the president these days.

“We continue public contact,” Ivanishvili told Imedi TV.

Ivanishvili expressed his discontent about Margvelashvili’s decision to appoint Vano Machavariani as an advisor in foreign policy issues, who is the brother of one of the leaders of the UNM, MP Mikheil Machavariani.

Ivanishvili also disliked the fact that Margvelashvili started using the president’s Avlabari residence where he has already held several meetings and recently received the credentials from the ambassadors of different countries there.

For his part, Margvelashvili explained that he received the credentials for the president’s palace because there is no room in the state chancellery for such ceremonies.

In addition, there are several issues that have become visible in the relationship between President Margvelashvili and Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, who is devoted to Ivanishvili.

Some analysts observe a strained relationship between the two. As an example, they observe that during the president’s annual report to the parliament, the cabinet of ministers were not present.

So, the confrontation is not dramatic so far but it is visible. The question is: are there serious differences in the visions of the country’s political orientation either in the domestic or foreign policy?

And here we want to recollect once again a popular Georgian saying: one Georgian is a chief, two Georgians is a government, three Georgians is impossible!