Irakli Kobakhidze

Georgia’s embattled ruling party celebrates after receiving letter from President Trump on Independence Day

By | May 28th, 2025|Categories: News|Tags: , , , , , , |

TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgian Dream (GD) hailed a congratulatory letter from U.S. President Donald Trump to President Mikheil Kavelashvili, interpreting it as the definitibve answer to which side of the political divide he supports after months of uncertainty. The letter, released on May 26 to mark Georgia’s Independence Day, expressed Washington’s commitment to "peaceful and productive relations" and [...]

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Georgia’s Independence Day celebrations pass without incident

By | May 26th, 2025|Categories: News|Tags: , , , |

(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Despite deepening polarization, this year’s Independence Day celebrations in Tbilisi passed without major disruptions. Commentators credited careful planning and the physical separation of events with avoiding incidents, as the country remains engulfed in a deep political crisis where opposition leaders still, 212 days after the election, and with 180 days of continuous rallies, refuse [...]

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Major reshuffle in Georgian politics: PM trades seat with ruling party chairman

By | January 29th, 2024|Categories: News, Politics|Tags: , |

Irakli Garibashvili (right) and Irakli Kobakhidze (gd.ge). TBILISI, DFWatch–After Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili returned to public politics in late December, everyone in Georgia expected major upheavals in the government, although only a small number of commentators predicted dismissal of the prime minister. However, this became clear on Sunday, when the pro-government TV company Imedi reported [...]

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GD rules out Saakashvili’s transfer abroad, opposition says ex-president actually “sentenced to death”

By | May 30th, 2022|Categories: News|Tags: , |

The statement of the chairman of the Georgian Dream, who categorically ruled out the transfer of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili abroad for medical treatment, caused great outrage in the opposition. "Irakli Kobakhidze actually sentenced to death Mikheil Saakashvili," said Nika Gvaramia, director general of the main opposition TV channel, Mtavari Arkhi, who himself was sentenced to a [...]

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Georgia’s ruling party asks for stronger EU condemnation of UNM ‘provocation’

By | September 25th, 2021|Categories: Elections|Tags: , , |

Altercation between Nika Melia (left) and Irakli Kobakhidze at the EU office in Tbilisi. (Ambebi.ge) TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia’s ruling party, GD, criticizes EU Ambassador Carl Hartzell for being too timid in his criticism of the leader of the opposition party UNM Nika Melia after a verbal confrontation outside the EU office in Tbilisi on Thursday. Melia approached [...]

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GD chairman rules out early parliamentary elections

By | August 31st, 2021|Categories: Elections|Tags: , , |

Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of Georgia's ruling party, Georgian Dream. TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia’s ruling party has dashed the opposition's hopes of holding early elections for parliament in 2022 as a spokesman ruled it out entirely regardless of how few votes Georgian Dream will be able to get in the local elections this October. "Even if Georgian Dream gets [...]

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A PM who recently resigned is Georgia’s most popular politician

By | April 5th, 2021|Categories: News|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has 65% approval rating among Georgians. TBILISI, DFWatch--A recently retired prime minister is one of Georgia's most popular politicians, according to a new survey published by the International Republican Institute (IRI) on Monday. Giorgi Gakharia, who resigned in February citing disagreement with his party colleagues over the detention of UNM leader [...]

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42-year-old Irakli Kobakhidze takes over reins of Georgia’s ruling party as billionaire founder steps down

By | January 16th, 2021|Categories: Politics|Tags: , , |

Former party secretary Irakli Kobakhidze was "unanimously" elected as new leader of Georgian Dream. TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia’s ruling party on Saturday elected former party secretary Irakli Kobakhidze as new chairman, after its billionaire founder stepped down.  The choice of a new leader and new composition of the political council at the party convention are important developments for [...]

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Georgian Dream starts crackdown on opposition after talks to stop boycott fail

By | December 18th, 2020|Categories: News|Tags: , , , |

GD Executive Secretary Irakli Kobakhidze. TBILISI, DFWatch--After talks between Georgian Dream and the opposition failed to defuse the political crisis, the ruling party in Georgia has started to weigh in with threats of revoking registration for the largest opposition party and stripping others of state funding. On Thursday, Irakli Kobakhidze, the Georgian Dream executive secretary, said [...]

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Georgian parliament names session hall after Zviad Gamsakhurdia

By | April 18th, 2019|Categories: Politics|Tags: , |

Parliament's bureau voting to name the main session hall after Zviad Gamsakhurdia. (parliament.ge.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Georgia has named the plenary session hall of the parliament building after the country's first president since independence. Parliament’s decision on Tuesday to name the hall after Zviad Gamsakhurdia seems to be the outcome of a rivalry between Georgia's top [...]

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‘Traitor!’ ‘Fascist!’ Accusations fly in Georgian election campaign

By | October 9th, 2018|Categories: Elections|Tags: , , |

Speaker of Parliament Irakli Kobakhidze. (Facebook.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Nika Gvaramia, head of the opposition TV channel Rustavi 2, calls the ruling party-backed presidential contender a ‘traitor’. GD party secretary Irakli Kobakhidze responds by calling Gvaramia a ‘fascist’. Kobakhidze, who is the speaker of Georgia's parliament, slammed the Rustavi 2 director Monday morning at a press [...]

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Four die in coal mine explosion in Tkibuli, Georgia

By | July 16th, 2018|Categories: News|Tags: , , |

The accident happened in one of these mines in Tkibuli. (primenewsgeorgia.ge) TBILISI, DFWatch–Four miners died after a methane gas explosion in a coal mine in Tkibuli, Georgia, Monday morning, prompting the temporary closure of the mine. A further six were injured and brought to hospital. Two of them are still in a serious condition, […]

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Georgian parliament speaker slams Freedom House report

By | April 12th, 2018|Categories: Politics|Tags: , |

TBILISI, DFWatch–The speaker of Georgia’s parliament on Thursday slammed a report by the US based organization Freedom House, accusing its local contributors of being hostile to the Georgian government and the Trump administration. Using extraordinarily strong language […]

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Georgia’s ruling GD party demurring on electoral reform

By | June 19th, 2017|Categories: Legal reform|Tags: , |

Speaker of Parliament Irakli Kobakhidze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s ruling party will defer until 2024 to fulfill one of its main promises: to overhaul an election system that has favored the incumbent force for decades. The system of single-mandate districts, so-called majoritarians, was supposed to have been phased out […]

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Escalating rhetoric between Georgia’s parliament and president

By | March 9th, 2017|Categories: Legal reform|Tags: , |

Speaker of Parliament Irakli Kobakhidze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–A meeting summoned by the Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has become the latest episode in the downward spiral of deteriorating relations between him and the ruling Georgian Dream party. On Thursday, Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze […]

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Georgian parliament overturns president’s veto of judicial bill

By | February 13th, 2017|Categories: Legal reform|Tags: , , , |

(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Opposition parties in the former Soviet republic of Georgia warn that the independence of the courts will be weakened after the ruling party overturned the president’s veto against a judicial reform bill. The so-called third wave of judicial reform was vetoed […]

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GD presents its list of committee heads in the new parliament

By | November 7th, 2016|Categories: Politics|Tags: |

Georgian Dream’s bigwigs approved Irakli Kobakhidze’s nomination as new speaker of parliament on Sunday. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–After a landslide victory in the election, Georgian Dream bigwigs gathered on Sunday to agree on key appointments for the new parliament. After the political council session was over, GD announced its list of candidates, which, not surprisingly, […]

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GD considers its party secretary as new speaker of parliament

By | November 5th, 2016|Categories: Politics|Tags: , , |

Irakli Kobakhidze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–After several weeks of speculation, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili on Friday confirmed that the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party is considering its secretary Irakli Kobakhidze for the post as new speaker of parliament. It was expected that the stern […]

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Tbilisi NGO workers urge opposition for action against imminent GD constitutional majority

By | October 18th, 2016|Categories: Elections|Tags: , , |

Irakli Kobakhidze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch--Individual members of some of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Georgian capital Tbilisi are now calling on opposition political parties to call on their voters to support opposition candidates in the second round of the parliamentary election, fearing that the ruling Georgian Dream might secure enough seats in the new parliament to [...]

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Buoyed by election result, GD begins pushing for constitutional amendments

By | October 11th, 2016|Categories: Politics|Tags: , |

Irakli Kobakhidze. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Already before the official election results have been announced, the ruling Georgian Dream party is talking about making two constitutional amendments. Another round of single-seat districts has still not been held, and no-one knows how many members […]

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Georgian Dream announces top 15 candidates for parliament – 8 are women

By | July 14th, 2016|Categories: News|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Tamar Chugoshvili. TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian Dream Party on Wednesday announced its top 15 people on the party list for the parliamentary election in October. The list consists of eight women and seven men. There are no MPs or cabinet members among them. Three of them are deputy ministers. […]

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