Georgia PM Resigns Amidst Growing Political Crisis

Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia has resigned as a political crisis that began with last year's legislative election continues to escalate.

• Gakharia resigned following disagreements with his Cabinet over an arrest warrant issued for opposition United National Movement (UNM) chair Nika Melia, who is accused of organising 'mass violence' in the June 2019 anti-gov't protests.
• Since the Oct-Nov 2020 election, the UNM has refused to take up its seats in parliament, alleging that the governing Georgian Dream party rigged the vote.
• The ongoing crisis has major implications for the geopolitical outlook in the Caucuses and could drag in external actors such as the EU and US.
• The governing Georgian Dream - established in 2012 as a political vehicle for Georgia's richest man Bidzina Ivanishvilia - has been accused by opponents of being too close to Moscow. The opposition UNM - led in the past by former President Mikheil Saakashvili - supports a closer relationship with the US and EU.
• Both the EU and NATO have sought to encourage Tbilisi to pursue a pro-western path, with the end goal of having a NATO member state on Russia's southern border.
• In 2008, perceptions in Moscow that Georgia was getting to close to the west saw the conflict over the breakaway region of South Ossetia erupt. In January, President Salome Zourabichvili announced in a visit to Brussels that Georgia would be in a position to officially apply for EU membership by 2024. Should a process of westernisation continue in Georgia it could provoke greater interference from Moscow.