Georgian Parliament approves renewed Cabinet

Georgian Parliament Members (MPs) have approved and given their vote of confidence to the updated list of Cabinet members with 87 votes in favour and 38 against after a two-day marathon discussion.

The vote of confidence began on Friday however talks began the day before, and the discussion finally ended more than 36 hours later, at 02.23 am on Saturday. This was the first time this procedure has taken place in Parliament of Georgia.

There are three new members on the list of the renewed Georgian Government:

• Tinatin Khidasheli (Republican Party) as the Minister of Defence
• Gigla Agulashvili (Republican Party) as the new Minister of Environment Protection
• Tariel Khechikashvili as the country’s new Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs

With the addition of Khidasheli, for the first time in Georgia's history, the country has its first female Minister of Defence.

All the other members of Cabinet retained their roles in the Government, which is lead by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.

Overnight MPs also gave a vote of confidence to the Government's renewed Action Plan titled 'For strong, democratic and united Georgia'. The 66-page document presented the program of Georgia’s future development until 2020.

All Ministers had discussed the Action Plan in their spheres with various Parliament Committees and all fractions on the day before.

The ruling coalition has the majority in Parliament so the result of voting was not unexpected but the discussions and meetings with the different fractions and all necessary procedures turned the process to a two-day, 24-hour non-stop marathon of talks which finished in early hours of Saturday morning.

People are asking are we choosing the Government or the Pope,” joked PM Irakli Garibashvili at the beginning of his final speech before the voting.

He underlined that the vote of confident in the new Cabinet was a "transparent and democratic process", which was "typical for the civilized modern European state”.

"It is an important day. I want to thank our opponents for making us stronger after these quite hot discussions. I am happy that Georgian democracy strengthened today, that the Georgian state became stronger,” emphasized the head of the Government in his final speech.

A vote of confidence in Georgia’s Cabinet was needed after the country’s Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs resigned on April 29, which saw one-third of the Cabinet be changed in recent months.

Under the Georgian Constitution, if one-third of Ministers are replaced, the Cabinet needs to regain approval from Parliament.