TBILISI, Georgia (AP) Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has nominated the country's interior minister as his successor.
The nomination on Saturday of Irakli Garibashvili comes a week after elections that chose Ivanishvili's ally Giorgi Margvelashvili as the country's new president.
Billionaire Ivanishvili, whose Georgian Dream coalition routed President Mikhail Saakashvili's party in parliamentary elections a year ago, had previously announced his intention to step down as premier after the presidential vote. He is expected to remain highly influential even without a formal post.
Ivanishvili is expected to step down directly after the Nov. 17 presidential inauguration, after which parliament is to vote for a new prime minister. The 31-year-old Garibashvili has headed the ministry that controls the country's police since October 2012.
