President’s spokesperson said that President Saakashvili named Bidzina Ivanishvili as next Prime Minister on October 17.
Official resources report that the extroverted government resigned on October 10 and President Saakashvili had seven days to “select” a candidate for the post of prime ministerial.
According to the constitution, the President should have “selected” the candidacy in consultations with the parliamentary factions, but as newly elected Parliament is not yet assembled, the President should have “consulted” with former factions. The Parliament is planned to be assembled on October 21 in newly built chamber in Georgia’s second largest city of Kutaisi.
On October 16 President Saakashvili, before leaving to Bucharest to take part in European People’s Party congress, said that there should be no delay in forming of the new government.
“It’s not about whether I like this composition of the cabinet or not. What matters is that because that’s the will of the Georgian people, we will cooperate with any proposed. So we will submit this composition of the government to the Parliament and I hope that the Parliament will be convened soon and undergo all the procedures timely. We should complete all the required constitutional procedures and deadlines as fast as possible and the Georgian Parliament should confirm this government as fast as possible.” he said.
According to the constitution after prime ministerial candidate is named, the latter should select ministerial candidates through agreement with the President within 10 days, and according to the finalized election results, the Georgian Dream will have 85 lawmakers in the new Parliament and President Saakashvili’s UNM party – 65.
