Ivanishvili forms dream team

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusive to VK

The leader of the coalition Georgian Dream Bidzina Ivanishvili refused to meet the president Saakashvili to discuss the candidates for the ministerial positions. The future prime minister wanted to demonstrate absolute independence from the head of the state. Yesterday Ivanishvili and Saakashvili agreed only on a peaceful handover of power. “The current process if historic. It is the first time the executive power is transferred peacefully and within democracy in this part of the post-Soviet space… It is no secret that we have fundamental contradictions in many political and national issues. But we are a responsible power and I am the guarantor of the constitution. We will provide the transition of governmental functions without problems,” Saakashvili said.

Ivanishvili stated the names of his ministers a day before the meeting with the president. Therefore, he improved the importance for the new government social and psychological view – the president and his team are “the outgoing power,” while Ivanishvili’s team is the real power.

Ahead of the presentation of the new government which will be approved at the first session of the parliament, journalists and experts discussed possible candidates. Nobody has predicted the right makeup of the Cabinet.

The biggest surprise was appointment of Ivanishvili’s lawyer, Archil Kbilashvili, to the position of the general prosecutor. He is one of the most successful advocates in Georgia, but in democratic countries lawyers don’t become prosecutors very often. In some states it is forbidden by the law, in others it is a violation of the corporate culture. Kbilashvili immediately stated that he intends “to free prosecution from political orders and provide real equality of defense and prosecution in court.” By the way, the former general prosecutor Zurab Adeishvili left Georgia, according to some information, because he is afraid of criminal proceedings for all that he had done in recent years.

The head of the Interior Ministry became the president of the charity fund Cartu, Irakli Garibashvili. Many candidates were predicted to take this position. All of them were political supporters of the leader of Georgian Dream. But Ivanishvili could trust the most powerful and significant structure only to his “right hand” Garibashvili.

The president of the Central Bank will probably be the head of Ivanishvili’s bank Cartu, Nodar Dzhavakhishvili. The current head of the Central Bank will have to resign, as he was elected by the Bank Council rather than was appointed by the president. The new power hints that Kadagidze has to make a decision in the nearest days.

It was thought that the ministry of healthcare would be given to Ivanishvili’s doctor Dmitry Khundadze. But he rejected the position and agreed to be the chairman of the parliamentary committee on healthcare. Then, the billionaire appointed an unexpected person – Amiran Gamkrelidze. Gamkrelidze was the minister of healthcare in 2001-2001 under Shevardnadze. Ahead of the parliamentary elections nobody could predict returning people from the former president’s team, who was overthrown by the Revolution of Roses. And Gamkrelidze is not the only minister of Shevardnadze who will work with Ivanishvili. David Kirvalidze, the former minister of agriculture in 2000-2003, will head the ministry of agriculture now.

The leader of Free Democrats, Irakly Alasania, becomes the defense minister, even though everybody thought he would be the interior minister. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and its head are more important for the control over the situation, while the defense minister will hardly influence internal political processes.

Speaking about the future president, Ivanishvili surprised everybody. According to him, the best candidate for the position of the country’s head after 2012 will be constitutionalist Vakhtang Khmaladze. Thus, Ivanishvili showed what a role he assigned not only to the current, but also to the future president. Khmaladze is a bright scientist, the main author of the current constitution, but he has no any political weight in the country, not mentioning the rating. However, the president still has to be elected by the people, he is not appointed by the parliament like in classic parliamentary republics. After the victory in the elections Ivanishvili is sure in success of all his undertakings, including election a symbolic figure to the position of the president.

The foreign minister of the new government will be the press secretary of Ivanishvili, Maya Pandzhikidze. In her first interview she said: “We will continue the course on accession to the NATO and the EU. There will be no restoration of diplomatic relations with Russia until the end of the occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the same concerns returning of Georgia to the CIS, as it would mean going back to the past.”

The important position of the minister of regional development was given to the football player Kakha Kaladze. Son of the former player of Dynamo (Tbilisi) David Kapiani, Levan, is appointed to the position of the minister of sport and the youth.

As for the economic sector, the positions of ministers of finances, economy, and energetic (as well as the minister of education) are vacant. Ivanishvili said that he is negotiating with candidates who successfully live and work in the West: “It is very difficult to convince them to return in Georgia from the countries where they successfully live and work.” He means businessmen or employees of major companies who work exactly in the West. Are there no successful businessmen, top managers, scientists, experts of Georgian origin in Russia? However, they are not even considered. Ivanishvili is afraid of accusations of “the pro-Russian position.” However, it is not clear how he will combine the pro-Western course with promises to improve relations with Moscow at the level of economic relations.

VK found out that the only variant developed by the opposition which became the authorities is the suggestion of opening railway traffic between Russia and the countries of the South Caucasus through Abkhazia in trade for returning Borzhomi and Georgian agricultural production to Russia. Time will tell whether this exchange is acceptable for Russia.