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Ivanishvili pledges to fully change Georgian govt lineup

“None of the present government ministers will retain position in the new government that will consist of members of our coalition,” he said
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

TBILISI, October 3 (Itar-Tass) — Billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, head of the Georgian Dream coalition leading in the parliamentary election, says he will fully change the lineup of the Cabinet of Ministers.

“None of the present government ministers will retain position in the new government that will consist of members of our coalition,” Ivanishvili told reporters on Wednesday. “Neither Vano Merabishvili (incumbent Prime Minister) nor other members of the present government will get into our Cabinet of Ministers,” he stressed.

Ivanishvili accentuated the prime minister’s name as some local media outlets and politicians say Ivanishvili has maintained stably good relations with Merabishvili over the recent years. From December 2004 to July 2012 Merabishvili was Interior Minister and in July of this year he was appointed Prime Minister.

Earlier Ivanishvili said he considered Merabishvili “the most equable and hard-working member of Saakashvili’s team”. Proceeding from that, some experts and politicians have believed that Merabishvili will possibly get some position in the new government.

However, over the recent weeks Ivanishvili has been stating that “there are more experienced and competent than Merabishvili” people in the Georgian Dream team.

Ivanishvili’s spokeswoman Maya Pandzhikidze (former Georgian ambassador to Germany and the Netherlands) told reporters that “consultations of Georgian dream coalition representatives on with personnel issues and the formation of a new government will begin” on Wednesday.

These consultations will continue several days, she said. “The first session of the new parliament must be held approximately by October 20, and all issues will have been settled by that time,” Pandzhikidze added.