Ahead of the local elections and against the backdrop of the political crisis in the country, the Georgian Dream party has chosen a politician, who is one of its team's main spokesmen and is often distinguished by radical, anti-European, hostile rhetoric towards political opponents and attempts to incite polarization in society, as the head of the Security Service. On August 23, the Head of the State Security Service, Anri Okhanashvili, unexpectedly resigned after less than 5 months of work. The circumstances that led to his resignation remains unknown to the public, while the identity of Okhanashvili’s replacement, Mamuka Mdinaradze, was immediately presented to the public without any democratic discussion. It is clear that the discussions relating to the candidacy of the new head of the Service in the one-party Parliament will take place without critical questions or debates. The approval of Mdinaradze’s candidacy by the Parliament, as well as Okhanashvili’s in April of this year, will only be a formal legal procedure and will not bear any sign of parliamentary control over the security sector.  

The unknown circumstances of the resignation of the Head of the State Security Service as well as the rapid and undemocratic process of selecting his replacement, are further confirmation that this agency is closed and extremely politicized.

Since 2015, the State Security Service has been transformed into a closed agency with broad powers. According to the promise, it was to be equipped only with an analytical function, although it retained an investigative function as well, and over the years its investigative subordination has expanded even further. The State Security Service has been given the mandate to investigate criminal cases that, by their nature, do not represent a state security issue and do not fall within the scope of the Service’s activities, disproportionately expanding the Service’s influence and power. For example, the State Security Service has the authority to investigate all official (including negligent) misconduct. As for the analytical function, at a press conference relating to the replacement of the Head of the State Security Service, Irakli Kobakhidze stated that Anri Okhanashvili, who will take up the position of the Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, will lead the study of security risks facing the state and analytical work. When presenting Mdinaradze’s candidacy, Irakli Kobakhidze emphasized the need to continue the fight against corruption, organized crime and drug crime. The content of the press conference and the descriptions of the work directions of the former and future heads of the State Security Service create the impression that the analytical function of the agency will no longer be retained and this function will be transferred to the Government Administration, while the Security Service will only be engaged in the investigation of crimes. There may also be duplication of the analytical function, which will create an even more confusing situation. Apart from the replacement of the official, no changes  have yet been announced regarding the mandate or authority of the agency, so it is currently unclear what functions the Security Advisor working in the Government Administration will have and how responsibilities and work directions will be distributed between him and the Head of the Security Service.

In recent years, the State Security Service has held more than one noisy press conference to announce the start of an investigation into a coup d'état or the attempted assassination of Bidzina Ivanishvili. During the leadership of Anri Okhanashvili, the cases of businessman Giorgi Bachiashvili's return to Georgia and then violence committed against him in prison, which have not been investigated so far, became particularly scandalous. Giorgi Bachiashvili names Anri Okhanashvili as the organizer of his return to Georgia. It should be noted that Bachiashvili is on trial for financial crimes. The alleged involvement of the State Security Service in this case shows that the State Security Service has completely neglected its mandate established by law and is focused only on protecting the interests of Georgian Dream and its founder. The investigations launched by the State Security Service over the years into the attempted assassination of Bidzina Ivanishvili and other scandalous political cases have not yet been completed, and no concrete evidence has been presented. The use of the State Security Service to discredit or intimidate opposition parties undermines public trust in this agency.

Georgian Dream’s personnel policy and their daily actions once again confirm that the party intends to use state institutions, including the Security Service, for political polarization, attacks on opponents, and consolidation of one-party, authoritarian rule.