April 22, 2008
Civil Georgia

Davit Bakradze, the foreign minister, who has become number one in the ruling party’s list of MP candidates, will become the new parliamentary chairman in case of the National Movement’s success in the May 21 parliamentary elections.

Gigi Ugulava, Tbilisi mayor and one of the key figures within the ruling party, told the TV talk show, Primetime, late on April 21 that it was not “an easy decision” to distract “such a good foreign minister” from his position in “such a difficult time for Georgia.”

Bakradze was named in the top of the ruling party’s list of MP candidate after Nino Burjanadze, the Parliamentary Chairperson, announced on April 21 that she would not run because of a disagreement with other ruling party leaders over composition of the party-list.

Speaking at the late-night political talk show aired by Rustavi 2 TV, Ugulava named first nine persons in the list. There are three cabinet members in the top nine – Davit Bakradze; Koba Subeliani, the state minister for refugees and accommodation and Zaza Gamtsemlidze, the minister of environment (he is third in the list and he also runs as a majoritarian MP in the Tbilisi’s Vake single-mandate constituency). The third in the list is actor Gia Roinishvili, Ugulava said.

Others in the top nine include: Nugzar Tsiklauri, a publisher; Khatuna Ochiauri, a member of the Tbilisi City Council (Sakrebulo); Mikheil Machavariani, the vice-speaker of the parliament; MP Gigi Tsereteli and Davit Darchiashvili, executive director of the Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF).