Rich, powerful and about to stand down: Georgia's Prime Minister is trying to cure his country's Messiah complex. George Mchedlishvili looks at his motives

In: The world today, Band 69, Heft 5, S. 31

Abstract

The presidential elections in Georgia on October 27 will be a watershed in one important sense: Georgia will cease to be a presidential republic and become a parliamentary one, with new responsibilities vested in the prime minister's office. The new constitutional arrangement will curb the power of the president. Pre-election comment abroad has focused on the contradictory figure of the current prime minister -- and Georgia's richest man -- Bidzina Ivanishvili. He burst on to the political scene in 2011, forming the Georgian Dream coalition that defeated President Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement in parliamentary elections last October. Ivanishvili, however, is not running for president and has promised to resign as prime minister by the end of the year. The rationale for this decision is perhaps that it is one of the few steps that can cure Georgia of its 'Messiah complex', the excessive speculations placed in one strong leader. Adapted from the source document.