Giorgi Gakharia

Giorgi Gakharia (გიორგი გახარია; born 19 March 1975) is a Georgian politician who served as the 14th Prime Minister of Georgia from 8 September 2019 until his resignation on 18 February 2021.

In 1992–1994 Gakharia studied at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, faculty of History.

In 1994–1999 he studied at Lomonosov Moscow State University.

He is a Master of Political Science.

In 2002–2004 he studied at Lomonosov Moscow State University's Higher Business School (Master of Business Management).

From May, 2004 to November, 2008 Gakharia took the position of the Director-General of SFK Group; from November, 2008 to February, 2013 he took the position of the Director of Germany GR & Business Development at the Lufthansa Service Holding AG. (LSG, Frankfurt am Main) in Eastern Europe, CIS countries and Russian Federation.

In 2006–2009 he was an invited lecturer in Applied Biotechnology at Moscow State University.

After winning the 2012 parliamentary elections, a new ruling party came to Georgia, which formed a new government led by Bidzina Ivanishvili in October 2012.

Giorgi Gakharia joined the ruling party in 2013 where he was accepted from the very beginning.

Because of his past and knowledge, he became the country ombudsman in March 2013, After that, his political life began with the Georgian Dream.

As a result of his success in 2014, he was appointed Secretary of the Economic Council, where he made a name for himself and became an important person in the Georgian Dream.

As a result of Gakharia's advancement in politics, he became quite famous, in 2016, the Georgian Dream won a second term and remained in power.

After winning the election, a new government was formed where Prime Minister Kvirikashvili named Gakharia Minister of Economy.

On November 27, 2016, the new government won the support of the majority and the new cabinet was approved.

Gakharia became the Minister of Economy of the country and at the same time he became the new government.

He became even more famous.

His influence was growing quite fast.

In 2017, Kvirikashvili appointed him Minister of Internal Affairs, from where his main political life began.

During the prime minister of Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Gakharia became a very important person in the country, his influence was especially increased by being the minister of internal affairs, where he achieved a lot of success.

In November, 2017 the Government of Georgia was reshuffled, including the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; consequently, on November 13, 2017 Giorgi Gakharia was appointed to the post of the Minister of Internal Affairs, replacing Giorgi Mgebrishvili.

Several months after the appointment, for ensuring the security for tourists and tourist areas the Infantry Patrol Subunit was created within the Patrol Police Department of the Ministry.

Infantry patrol officers have received 3-week special retraining courses at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; all of them know one or more foreign languages.

They are provided with modern police equipment, including the latest generation of shoulder cameras.

On June 13, 2018, Prime Minister Kvirikashvili resigned.

The ruling party has named former finance minister Mamuka Bakhtadze as the country's prime minister.

Parliament declared confidence in Bakhtadze's cabinet on June 20, Where Gakharia was still the minister of internal affairs.

Gakharia became even more influential in the government during Bakhtadze's term as prime minister.

On July 17, Bakhtadze appointed him first vice prime minister.

Gakharia was the most influential person in Bakhtadze's cabinet, Prime Minister Bakhtadze considered him his right hand man

The Human Rights Protection Department was created on January 1, 2018, in one month from the appointment of Giorgi Gakharia to the position of the Minister of Internal Affairs.

The competences of the Department cover the timely response and effective investigation into the cases such as domestic offenses, violence against women, crimes committed on the ground of discrimination, trafficking, crime by/against juveniles.

From May 1, 2019, he becomes the secretary of the Security Council.

Gakharia, as the minister of internal affairs, was an important figure not only for the government but also for the Georgian Dream.

He was particularly critical of the Georgian opposition and the National Movement in particular.

Gakharia played an important role in the country's domestic politics.

Gakharia's authority has been significantly shaken since the events of June 20, 2019, although Gakharia still held the position of the most important person in the government

On June 20, 2019, Russian politician Sergei Gavrilov was invited to Georgia for a one-day speech in the country's parliament.

The session was held in Russian, which provoked protests from a large part of the Georgian population, especially young Georgians.

Throughout the day, the population protested against this action of the Russian politician and the support of the ruling team on this issue.

The population organized a huge rally in front of the parliament on the evening of June 20, people demanded the resignation of the speaker of the parliament Irakli Kobakhidze and the punishment of the Georgian Dream government, this protest soon turned into a storm in the parliament.