Changes in the Georgian government won’t in any way affect the population of Georgia, much less the South Caucasus region, former Ambassador of Georgia to China, Mongolia and Vietnam Mamuka Gamkrelidze told Report.

“First of all, it must be said that Ivanishvili never left politics. He always led the party and therefore the government from the shadows. All power ministers and the prime minister report personally to him. Therefore, these changes can only be considered internal to the party and will not affect the population of Georgia, much less the South Caucasus region in any way. The policy of the party and government will remain the same,” he said.

“One can only guess what forced Ivanishvili to leave his comfortable shadow and come into the light. Most likely this is the beginning of the strengthening and confrontation of clans within the party, which ultimately could lead to a weakening of his personal power. And now he clearly put everyone in their place and showed the Georgian voter who is boss and that they will vote in the fall not for the prime minister or any other person, but for him personally,” Gamkrelidze added.

In turn, the dean of the School of Business at Free University of Tbilisi, Giga Bedineishvili, noted that the prime minister’s identity is only secondary as all strategic matters are decided by Ivanishvili single-handedly.

“The change will happen only if Ivanishvili’s thinking changes - which is near impossible to predict. As for his return, that’s academic too. He’s never been out actually. Whether he’s “back” formally changes very little,” he added.