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Leader of Georgia’s ruling party Garibashvili says quits politics

According to the former Georgian Prime Minister, he fulfilled his role by holding various positions in the government and the party and sees no need to stay in the party and in politics in general

Irakly Garibashvili David Mdzinarishvili/TASS

Irakly Garibashvili

© David Mdzinarishvili/TASS

TBILISI, April 25. /TASS/. Former Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili, chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party, said he would retire from politics.

"Today I want to inform you about my decision to retire from politics. Over the past few weeks, speculation about my future political activities has not stopped, and accordingly, I consider myself obligated to the public to provide comprehensive answers to the existing questions," Garibashvili said at a briefing.

Garibashvili said no position has ever been for him an end in itself. This is how it was at the end of 2015, when he left the post of prime minister, in 2019, when he returned to politics, and last year, when Garibashvili resigned from the post of the head of government and led the ruling party. According to Garibashvili, he fulfilled his role by holding various positions in the government and the party and sees no need to stay in the party and in politics in general.

Garibashvili, born in 1982, has been in the Georgian Dream since it came to power in 2012. He served as minister of internal affairs until 2013, after which he was appointed prime minister.

At the end of 2015, Garibashvili said he would retire from politics for the first time. In 2019, Garibashvili returned to the leadership of the Georgian Dream to head the Defense Ministry.

In 2021, he assumed the post of prime minister for a second time and announced his resignation three years later.

Since February 2024, Garibashvili has been chairman of the ruling party, while Irakly Kobakhidze, who previously held this position, became the head of the government.

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