Georgian government on the verge of resignation

The Georgian Minister for Youth and Sports Affairs, Levan Kipiani, has decided to resign, which could lead to the resignation of the government. "I am leaving my office," News-Georgia cited him.

Kipiani intends to file a petition to Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili after the press conference at which he announced his decision. "I put the public interest above personal," he added.

Levan Kipiani became the seventh member of the Cabinet of Irakli Garibashvili to leave his post. In early November 2014, Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maia Panjikidze, and the State Minister for Integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures, Alexi Petriashvili, resigned. At the end of month Interior Minister Alexander Chikaidze resigned. On April 21, the Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, David Shavliashvili, resigned. The Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Georgia, Elguja Hokrishvili, has voiced his intention to resign.

The head of the Center for Global Studies, Nana Devdariani, told Vestnik Kavkaza that the chain of resignations in the government, apparently, was organized to change the composition of the Cabinet as a whole. "The conversation about this has continued for a long time, various stories were submitted to the public, in particular, that Garibashvili will be replaced by the current Minister of Health Sergeyenko," she explained.

According to Devdariani, the new government, which will have a vote of confidence in parliament, will include Interior, Defence and Health Ministers. "The ministry of infrastructure, for example, has undergone changes, and its new head Nodar Javakhishvili is not likely to be affected by the changes," the expert said.

The head of the Institute of Management Strategy, Petre Mamradze, agreed with Devdariani that we face "the invisible part of the whole". "After Ivanishvili resigned as prime minister, Garibashvili started to lead the cabinet and the entire country as if under the auspices of Ivanishvili. Any proposal or decision by him was perceived as coming from Ivanishvili. But then the relatives of the prime minister's wife, Tamazashvili, Dzhankarashvili and others, occupied key positions, and there was a rumor that they had taken possession of financial flows, business. Ivanishvili categorically demanded that these people be removed from office, and Garibashvili did so," Mamradze said.

According to him, this case is linked to the resignation of ministers who arrived in the government with Garibashvili. "If we talk about Kipiani, then there is a row, because he did not have good relationship with the parliamentary committee. Of course, most importantly, a new cabinet will be appointed after his departure, and they say that the prime minister may not hold down a job. Alas, a team that understands what deep, extensive and very important reforms are needed for Georgia to save the state and the economy doesn't exist," the expert noted.

Mamradze also expects that Javakhishvili and Sergeyenko will stay in the government.