Georgia`s Saakashvili Names Fifth PM In Five Years

Saakashvili named 33-year-old Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Nika Gilauri to the post.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili named the fifth prime minister of his five-year rule on Friday after Grigol Mgaloblishvili resigned citing ill health after just three months in the job.

Saakashvili named 33-year-old Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Nika Gilauri to the post, which Mgaloblishvili had held since Nov 1.

"We carried out a mechanical reshuffle," Saakashvili told a televised meeting of the cabinet, appointing Gilauri's 30-year-old deputy Kakha Baindurashvili as finance minister.

Gilauri becomes the fifth prime minister since Saakashvili came to power in the former Soviet republic on the back of the November 2003 "Rose Revolution", promising his Western allies and 4.5 million Georgians stability and reform.

It marks the latest government upheaval in a country reeling from war with Russia in August, when Moscow's crushing counterstrike repelled a Georgian military assault on breakaway South Ossetia. It is sure to fuel opposition criticism of Saakashvili's style of government.

"We should be working like a military headquarters," Saakashvili said. "We should be working day and night to create new jobs and to save our economy."

The changes need approval by parliament, where Saakashvili's United National Movement holds a strong majority.

Mgaloblishvili, a 35-year-old career diplomat, blamed his poor health. He has been receiving treatment in Germany for a kidney condition.

"NO COMMENT"

"According to the doctors, I need another two months of intensive treatment," he told a news conference. "Georgia cannot afford to have a prime minister who is not in good shape."

He thanked Saakashvili and said the president could rely on his support after his recovery. Georgian media reports have spoken of a rift between the two, with Saakashvili increasingly disappointed with the prime minister's performance.

Saakashvili has denied Georgian and Russian media reports last month that he hit Mgaloblishvili during an argument. Mgaloblishvili said on Friday: "The president made a detailed comment on this. I don't think I need to comment further."

But the change provides Georgia's opposition with new ammunition, having united on Thursday in a joint declaration demanding the president resign and call an early election.

Under Saakashvili, Georgia has made strides in reforming the economy and attracting investors. But critics at home and abroad say he has stifled the media and concentrated power on a handpicked inner circle, at the expense of parliament.

He is now accused of walking into a war the Caucasus state could not possibly win. Russia has recognised South Ossetia and the second breakaway region of Abkhazia as independent states, and stationed thousands of troops in both.

"We have our fifth prime minister of the last five years -- such things rarely happen even in Latin America," Kakha Kukava, a leader of the opposition Conservative Party, told Reuters.

"... Georgia's main problem is not the prime minister or the government, it's the president."