Kobakhidze appointed Georgian Dream party chair, vows ‘to win back misguided citizens’

At the ninth congress of Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party, incumbent Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze was appointed as the party’s new chair. He was elected unanimously and without opposition at the gathering held in Tbilisi on Wednesday.

This is the second time Kobakhidze has been appointed to the position. He previously served as party chair from 2021 until January 2024, after which he became prime minister and was replaced as chair by former Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili.

However, following Gharibashvili’s announcement on 25 April that he was leaving politics, a new chair had to be selected. From Wednesday onwards, Kobakhidze will serve as both prime minister and party chair simultaneously.

In his speech during the congress, Kobakhidze reiterated a claim frequently made by Georgian Dream — that under the party’s rule, ‘Georgia is more independent and sovereign than ever before’.

Kobakhidze spoke of unspecified ‘influential powers’ that he claimed sought to ‘strip states of their sovereignty’, ‘destroy the economies of many countries’, ‘fight against Christianity and other traditional religions’, and ‘use various nations as cannon fodder to advance their own corrupt political interests’.

According to Kobakhidze, against this backdrop, the party has had to wage a 13-year-long ‘uncompromising struggle’ to defend Georgia’s sovereignty, democracy, and traditional values.

‘We see how external powers are trying to impose hatred among Georgians, how they attempt to sow hostility toward everything Georgian — including the Georgian state and our mother church’, he said.

Georgian Dream’s claims — including warnings of attacks on national values — have coincided with a sharp deterioration in ties with the West, amidst the controversial 2024 parliamentary elections, the ruling party’s adoption of restrictive laws, and violence against anti-government protesters.

Georgian Dream representatives have repeatedly made harsh statements against Western critics of Georgia. In addition to personal attacks, the ruling party has significantly intensified its general anti-Western rhetoric and promotion of conspiracy theories, including claims about a ‘global war party’ and a ‘deep state’ allegedly seeking to destabilise Georgia.

Kobakhidze also referenced the upcoming local elections scheduled for October this year. He pledged that once ‘radicals’ — the ruling party’s term for the opposition parties — are removed from Georgian politics, ‘we will win back our misguided fellow citizens and unite our society’, presumably referring to opposition supporters.

‘This is our national mission’, he said.

The ruling party’s ninth congress took place against the backdrop of over five months of ongoing protests against the government’s EU U-turn — a movement that Georgian Dream has responded to first with police violence, and later with a wave of repressive legislation, targeting media, civil society, and political opposition.

Georgian Dream has repeatedly claimed that the new bills are necessary to fight the ‘influence of external powers’.

Georgian Dream chair and ex-Prime Minister Gharibashvili announces exit from politics

Rely on OC Media? We rely on you too. Amidst the current global turmoil, small news outlets like ours could be the first to close. Help us get off grants and become the first reader-funded news site in the Caucasus, and keep telling the stories that matter. Become a member The chair of Georgian Dream and former Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili has announced his departure from politics. Speaking at a briefing in the ruling party office on Friday, Gharibashvili said he had ’honor

OC MediaMikheil Gvadzabia