Salome Zourabichvili, the fifth President of Georgia, describes the attempt by Georgian Dream to hold her responsible for the election of Nana Keinishvili to the National Bank Board as "yet another attack" on her, characterizing it as a "farce intended to mask political amnesia, a lack of principles, and their own incompetence."

According to Salome Zourabichvili, Georgian Dream's attempt to shift the blame for its own errors onto others is an effort to conceal its political incompetence, given that Keinishvili’s approval with 84 votes was a deliberate political choice made by Georgian Dream itself.

"Georgian Dream's latest attack on me—and the attempt to pin the responsibility for Nana Keinishvili’s election to the National Bank Board on me—is yet another farce designed to cover up political amnesia, a lack of principles, and their own incompetence.

When the ruling team’s political calculations fall flat, it attempts—in its characteristic style—to rewrite history and shift the blame for its own mistakes onto others. Let me remind the public of the indisputable facts:

Between 2019 and 2023, I submitted four independent, internationally recognized, and highly qualified candidates for membership on the National Bank Board to Parliament: Giorgi Khishtovani, Giorgi Mirotadze, Giorgi Bakradze, and Dimitri Japaridze. Georgian Dream rejected all four candidacies on absurd grounds and questioned their competence.

There was a single real reason for this: the ruling team wanted me to coordinate the nominations with them in advance. Later, they sought to nominate the incumbent Minister of Finance, Lasha Khutsishvili, to the National Bank Board in order to establish complete party control over the National Bank. They met with my principled refusal of this demand, made to protect the independence of the National Bank.

In September 2023, following the imposition of US sanctions on Otar Partskhaladze, Natia Turnava—the Acting Governor of the National Bank—altered the procedure for enforcing sanctions. This decision triggered a severe institutional crisis. Three vice-presidents of the National Bank resigned in protest, leaving the country’s primary financial institution facing the threat of functional paralysis. On one hand, due to the political persecution and reputational attacks orchestrated by Georgian Dream, high-level independent professionals were unwilling to put themselves forward as candidates; on the other hand, had the council seats remained vacant, the ruling team would have blamed the President for paralyzing the institution.

Consequently, the previously submitted candidacies of Nana Keinishvili and Teimuraz Khomeriki—originally put forward to fully expose the political affiliations of the ruling team—were utilized during the crisis to fill the council vacancies:

Georgian Dream—a party that had for years rejected leading financiers and economists on the grounds of "incompetence"—swiftly approved these two candidates with 84 votes, without any questions, debates, or scrutiny of their competence or professional backgrounds. A simple question arises here: why did Georgian Dream not raise a single question back when, for years, it was rejecting leading financiers and economists and turning down their candidacies?

The answer is obvious: the ruling team harbored a political illusion and calculated that it was appointing its own obedient "player" to the National Bank's board.

Today, now that this calculation has backfired on them, the parliamentary majority is attempting to shift the responsibility onto me.

I state with full responsibility: the approval of Nana Qeinishvili with 84 votes was a deliberate political choice made by Georgian Dream itself. The parliamentary majority bears full responsibility for its own political decisions, and they cannot escape that responsibility through any cheap propaganda tactics," writes Salome Zourabichvili in her statement.