New ruling party chair Kobakhidze re-elected PACE VP
Irakli Kobakhidze was elected ruling party leader in mid-January. Photo: Georgian parliament/Facebook
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The new chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, has been re-elected vice president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
Kobakhidze was first elected PACE VP last year. Kobakhidze and other members of the Georgian parliamentary delegation participate in the PACE winter session in Strasbourg.
Rik Daems (left) was also re-elected PACE President for a second one-year term yesterday. Photo: Georgian parliament/Facebook
Pledging to strengthen their ties withe the PACE at the meeting with President Rik Daems, the Georgian delegation members discussed the developments in Georgia and the priorities of the Georgian government.
Georgian Dream party officially elected Kobakhidze its new chair on January 16, replacing Bidzina Ivanishvili who left the party and politics, saying his ‘mission has been accomplished.’
"I have made the decision to finally retire from politics and fully distance myself from the reins of power. I am leaving the post of party chairman, as well as the party itself and am returning to my pre-2011, private lifestyle. I will turn 65 years old in just a few weeks, and this is one of the important factors in making the decision to retire from politics,” Ivanishvili said, adding that the step ‘which is dictated by the desire to advance young people to the forefront...will not only not weaken, but will, in fact, further strengthen the ruling party.’
Former Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze, who resigned during the June protests in Tbilisi last year, has been elected vice president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) earlier today, during the first day of the winter session.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze has resigned amid public protests after a Russian MP addressed the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy from the chair of the Georgian parliament speaker in Tbilisi yesterday.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has officially elected Irakli Kobakhidze its new chair at a party assembly today. The post became vacant after the party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili left the party and politics earlier this week.