TBILISI, Sept 10 (Askume) – Georgia’s ruling party on Tuesday chose billionaire former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, widely regarded as the most influential person in the country, as its main candidate in the Oct. 26 parliamentary election.
Ivanishvili served as prime minister from 2012 to 2013 and has served as honorary chairman of the ruling Georgia Dream party since December.
According to Georgian media reports, Irakli Kobakhidze, a close ally of current Prime Minister Ivanishvili, was nominated as the party’s second candidate.
Ivanishvili has played a leading role in Georgia’s ongoing political crisis since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 over a law on “foreign agents” passed by his government earlier this year.
The United States and other Western countries have expressed concern about the law, which requires organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “foreign influence agents”.
Ivanishvili attacked the West in a rare public speech in April, saying the foreign agent law was necessary to protect Georgia’s sovereignty against “global war parties” from EU candidate countries and thus safeguard Georgia’s sovereignty.
Western and domestic critics have accused the government led by Ivanishvili and his allies of authoritarian tendencies and of isolating Tbilisi from its traditional partners in Western capitals.
Polls show that Georgia Dream remains the most popular party in the country ahead of the October election.
