On 28 November, the ruling Georgian Dream party approved a slightly reshuffled government cabinet, led by incumbent Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, along with its programme titled ‘Towards Europe with Peace, Dignity, and Prosperity’. The vote passed with 84 in favour and none against, and without questions asked to Kobakhidze.

The government was endorsed without a single opposition member present, as the new parliament has been boycotted by all four opposition groups that, according to the disputed election results, surpassed the 5% threshold.

[Read more: Georgian Central Election Commission annuls electoral lists of three of four opposition groups] 

Kobakhidze gloated about the absence of the opposition as he spoke to a half-empty parliamentary session.

‘Unfortunately, these people are still called the opposition. Today, their seats are empty, but it must be said that even if they were sitting here today, these seats would be just as empty as they are now’, Kobakhidze stated.

The updated cabinet includes Maka Bochorishvili as Georgia’s new Foreign Minister, Anri Okhanashvili as the new Justice Minister, and Davit Songhulashvili as the new Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture.

A week before the 26 October elections, Kobakhidze announced his party’s intention to divide the Ministry of Culture and Sport into two separate entities after the elections, slating Shalva Gogoladze as the future Minister of Sport. Today, Tinatin Rukhadze was re-confirmed as the minister of the still-unified agency.

Most of the ministers who kept their positions in today’s newly formed cabinet — Aleksandre Tsuladze as Education Minister, Levan Davitashvili as Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Irakli Chikovani as Defence Minister, and Mikheil Sarjveladze as Minister of Labour and Health — assumed their roles earlier this year. This also applies to Irakli Kobakhidze, who succeeded Irakli Garibashvili as Prime Minister in February.

Lasha Khutsishvili, reconfirmed as Minister of Finance on Thursday, has held the position since 2021, while Irakli Karseladze, retained as Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, has served since 2018.

The new cabinet also includes Tea Akhvlediani, who has been the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality since August 2020.

The longest-serving minister, also reconfirmed today, is Vakhtang Gomelauri, who has been Interior Minister since 2015. Previously, he was the head of security for billionaire founder of Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili.

As he presented the government program in the parliament on Thursday, Kobakhidze restated Georgian Dream’s campaign talking points, insisting the government’s priority foreign policy goals are ‘restarting’ relations with the US, securing Georgia’s EU membership by 2030, and ‘deepening’ strategic partnership with China. 

As parliament convened to approve the new cabinet under Kobakhidze, a group of students from Ilia State University, known as the Iliauni Student Movement, gathered at its rear entrance to stage a mock election victory. 

Dressed formally, they declared themselves the election winners and announced their intention to form a new government.

'We are just as legitimate as Georgian Dream', one of the participants claimed.