Tbilisi, 29 January 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday announced he was resigning from his post, but said that it would be an honour for him to continue to serve the country as head of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Torn between its large neighbour Russia and the European Union, Georgia is due to hold a parliamentary election by this November.

Garibashvili said he wanted to be actively involved in the campaign for his party.

Despite being an EU candidate country, under Garibashvili's leadership Georgia has refused to support the West's sanctions against Russia because of Moscow's war against Ukraine.

In contrast, the country's pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili, who has hardly any powers, repeatedly accused the government of taking a pro-Russian course.

Georgian Dream's Irakli Kobakhidze, the current parliamentary speaker, is expected to take over as the new prime minister.

Garibashvili did not give a reason for his resignation. After an earlier two-year stint in the top job which ended in 2015, he had led the Georgian government since 2021. Georgian Dream is holding a party conference on Thursday.

Speaking in the capital Tbilisi, Garibashvili also thanked party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Ivanishvili, a Georgian oligarch who also temporarily led the country as head of government, recently announced his return to politics.

With his billion-dollar fortune, the party's honorary chairman is considered the political mastermind of the South Caucasus republic.

The pro-Western opposition party United National Movement (UNM) said it would be harmful to Georgia's EU prospects if Ivanishvili were to once again hold high office.

"Georgian voters overwhelmingly want EU membership and the economic benefits that come with it. But Brussels has made it clear that this will remain a pipe dream as long as Ivanishvili's influence overpowers democracy in Georgia," said party's leader Tina Bokuchava.

Photo: EPA