Georgian PM Garibashvili Announces Resignation

TBILISI (Sputnik) — Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced on Wednesday he had decided to leave his post.

"I made a decision today to resign from the post of prime minister," Garibashvili said in a statement aired by Georgian television.

Georgian media outlets earlier reported that the premier was planning to resign in order to head election campaign headquarters of the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia coalition.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has been tapped as his successor.

The now-former prime minister lauded the founder of the coalition and his predecessor Bidzina Ivanishvili for "exemplifying how a politician should perform useful work with temporary appointment and timely departure."

"Such is the political culture our team has established…A post is temporary, the motherland and God are eternal," Garibashvili said in the announcement.

The opposition United National Movement (UNM) party maintains Ivanishvili continues to rule behind the scenes after resigning in late 2013.