Ivanishvili endorsed as Georgia's prime minister - Oct. 25, 2012

Ivanishvili endorsed as Georgia’s prime minister

Published Oct. 25, 2012 at 4:04 pm

Bidzina Ivanishvili, left, holds papers while Georgian Orthodox Church Catholicos Ilya II holds a glass of water during a session of a newly elected parliament during it's first session in Kutaisi, some 250 km (155 miles) west of Tbilisi, Georgia, Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012.

Photo by AP

TBILISI — Georgia's parliament has approved billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili as the country's new prime minister.

Ivanishvili’s
coalition won the Oct. 1 parliamentary election. Lawmakers voted on
Thursday 88-54 to endorse him and his government.

Ivanishvili and
his political opponent, President Mikhail Saakashvili, will have to work
together for the first year of the new government. Saakashvili remains
president until October 2013 when a constitutional reform will transfer
many of the president’s powers to the prime minister.

Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia, has stressed the need to restore relations with Moscow that have been severed since the two countries fought a brief war in August 2008