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.

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, Chikovani participated in the Free Democrats 2016 election campaign, in which the party failed to obtain any seats. 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. On February 8, 2024, Chikovani joined Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's government as the Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.