Irakli Chikovani

Irakli Chikovani (born 28 August 1980) is a Georgian politician who has served as the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence of Georgia since February 8, 2024. A member of the Georgian Dream party, he was previously a Member of Parliament from 2020 to 2024 and 2012 to 2016.^[2]

Irakli Chikovani
ირაკლი ჩიქოვანი
Official portrait, 2020
Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia
In office 9 February 2024[1] – Disputed Serving with Vakhtang Gomelauri
Prime Minister	Irakli Kobakhidze
Preceded by	Levan Davitashvili
Minister of Defence
In office 8 February 2024 – Disputed
Prime Minister	Irakli Kobakhidze
Preceded by	Juansher Burchuladze
Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia
In office 16 November 2023 – 8 February 2024
Speaker	Shalva Papuashvili
Member of the Parliament of Georgia
In office 11 December 2020 – 8 February 2024
In office 21 October 2012 – 18 November 2016
Personal details
Born	(1980-08-28) 28 August 1980 (age 44) Zugdidi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union (now Georgia)
Citizenship	Georgia
Political party	Georgian Dream
Spouse	Diana Zhgenti
Children	3
Alma mater	Tbilisi State University

Biography

Chikovani joined politics in 2012, as a member of former Deputy Prime Minister Irakli Alasania's Free Democrats party, which was initially a part of the Georgian Dream coalition. After the coalition was disbanded,^[3] Chikovani participated in the Free Democrats 2016 election campaign, in which the party failed to obtain any seats.^[4] In 2020, Chikovani rejoined Georgian Dream and ran for MP in the Zugdidi constituency in that year's election, he won the seat with 93,88% of the vote.^[5] On February 8, 2024, Chikovani joined Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's government as the Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.^[6]