Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has defended Georgian government’s controversial decision to withdraw Zurab Pololikashvili’s candidacy for a third term as Secretary-General of the UN World Tourism Organization, using international diplomatic pressure and the UN’s informal two-term limit as primary reasons behind the decision.
“This was the first time a candidate was nominated for a third term,” Kobakhidze said. “It’s considered undemocratic, and there was no precedent for it.”
As the Prime Minister declared, Georgia faced a series of quiet but firm protests from other nations after submitting Pololikashvili’s name. “Some states even summoned our ambassadors in what could be called a diplomatic demarche,” he revealed, adding that “this alone shows the scale of discomfort.”
Kobakhidze avoided discussing all the factors behind the move but called Pololikashvili’s public reaction to the withdrawal ‘regrettable’ and ‘proof that our decision was absolutely correct.’
Pololikashvili, who currently leads the UN tourism body, reacted furiously on social media. “When I got on the plane, I saw the decision of the ‘deep’ rats,” he wrote. “The fact that this was my desire or was agreed upon with me is a big lie.”
He further accused Kobakhidze of avoiding him for weeks: “I’ve been writing, calling him, and he has been hiding… Let him come out and say what he exchanged my candidacy for!”
Kobakhidze dismissed the mention of the ‘Deep State’ in Pololikashvili’s remarks. “I don’t understand what the Deep State has to do with this at all,” he said. “And when a head of a UN organization uses that kind of vocabulary—it says a lot.”
The decision to instead support the UAE’s candidate is a rare internal rupture between a sitting Georgian official and the government, especially amid already escalated tensions with Western institutions.
