Ruling Party Chairman: President refused to sign five ambassador nominations, one recall

The Georgian President refused to sign nominations for five ambassadors by the Government and rejected recall of one between June and July in 2021 and this year, Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said in response to the Presidential Administration’s claim that Salome Zourabichvili had signed the appointments for “all nominated candidates” for diplomatic missions and representations at international organisations.

Kobakhidze said on Wednesday the President’s office had released “incorrect” information on the matter, adding the Georgian Government had sent another related request “two to three weeks ago” over appointments of two ambassadors and a recall of one, which he said Zourabichvili had also directly rejected “in writing”.

Kobakhidze said the purpose of the Presidential Administration’s release of the “wrong information” over the issue was “unclear”, adding there was a “documented, official correspondence” between the President and the Government over the matter. 

The GD Chairman also said “political arguments” had been included in the formal rejections from Zourabichvili, which he said meant the President had “misunderstood her own competence” in the process of appointing ambassadors.

The Georgian President “repeatedly rejected” to appoint Government-nominated ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions over the past year, the Administration of the Government of Georgia said on Tuesday. 

Zourabichvili’s office later responded to the statement by denying the claim of her refusal to approve the diplomatic appointments. In the response, the Presidential office said all 12 diplomatic candidates proposed by the Government between January 1, 2021 and March 21, 2022 had been approved by Presidential decrees.