Cabinet reshuffle announced by PM Irakli Garibashvili has affected seven government members with two of them switching posts and other five losing seats in the cabinet.

Prison system minister Sozar Subari has been named for the post of the minister for internally displaced persons and accommodation, replacing Davit Darakhvelidze.

Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Elguja Khokrishvili will become the Minister of Environment Protection, replacing Khatuna Gogaladze.

Other ministers who have lost posts in the cabinet along with Darakhvelidze and Gogaladze, are: Agriculture Minister Shalva Pipia; Minister of Culture Guram Odisharia and State Minister for Diaspora Konstantine Surguladze.

PM Garibashvili said he would name candidates who will replace these ministers either on Tuesday or Wednesday.

These changes will require for the entire cabinet to win confidence vote from the Parliament. After the PM names new ministerial nominations, President Giorgi Margvelashvili will submit the reshuffled cabinet for approval to the Parliament within seven days; the Parliament will have to consider the reshuffled cabinet and vote within following seven days.

Confirmation of the reshuffled cabinet, which requires more than half of the parliament members votes, is not likely to face any hurdles in the 150-seat legislative body, where ruling GD coalition holds 84 seats.

PM Garibashvili said that the goal of this reshuffle is “to further increase efficiency of the government.”
 
The local elections, he said, demonstrated that the GD ruling coalition enjoys with “complete confidence and support” of voters.

“We have passed through very important stages – we held local elections, presidential election [in 2013], we signed the Association Agreement with the EU; therefore now we need new pace and to work with doubled energy,” Garibashvili said. “So I think this renewal was necessary and logical and it may occur in the future as well.”

“We need to double our energy, motivation and efficiency in order to deliver with all of the promises pledged by the Georgian Dream,” he said.

“I think we should move to another mode, more pace is needed as we are facing new challenges,” he said.

PM Garibashvili that all those ministers who have lost seat in the cabinet “remain members of the team” and thanked them for “sparing no effort to be successful” and for “doing a great job together with us.”

“I do not rule out that some of them may continue tenure in the state service on other positions,” Garibashvili said.