Former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili said that appointment of two Republican Party members in the government indicates on Georgian Dream ruling coalition’s “sustainability.”

Two lawmakers from the Republican Party, part of the GD coalition, Tina Khidasheli and Gigla Agulashvili were appointed as defense and environment ministers, respectively, in a reshuffled cabinet, which has to face confidence vote in the Parliament.

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Government reshuffle is a “healthy and normal process,” Ivanishvili said while speaking in his TV talk show “2030” on Sunday.

“Appointment of Tina Khidasheli as the defense minister is a very good precedent because of many reasons,” he said, noting that Khidasheli is Georgia’s first ever female defense minister.

Appointment of Khidasheli and Agulashvili in the cabinet, he said, means that the Republican Party remains “firmly” in the GD coalition.

“There was certain confusion with the coalition – as you know one party [Irakli Alasania’s Free Democrats] quit the coalition and there were speculation, some suggestions about possible disintegration of the coalition – in this regard it [recent cabinet appointments] stresses that Republicans remain firmly and unwaveringly part of the coalition,” Ivanishvili said and suggested that GD will run in next year’s parliamentary election in its current form.

Third member of the cabinet from the Republican Party is state minister of reconciliation and civic equality Paata Zakareishvili.