Zourabichvili Salome

Zourabichvili, Salome (b. 18 March 1952, Paris), diplomat, Chevalier of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1977), Officer of the National Order of Merit of the Republic of France (1996), Chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honor of the Republic of France (2004), and Professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (2006), the 5th President of Georgia (16. XII. 2018 – 29. XII. 2024).

She graduated from Paris Institute of Political Studies in 1973 and Columbia University (New York, 1973). From 1974, she held various diplomatic positions in France, the United States, Italy, Austria, the Republic of Chad, and Belgium. She served as the Head of International and Strategic Affairs at the General Secretariat for National Defense (Paris, 2001–03) and as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Georgia (2003–04).

Zourabichvili served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia (2004–05). She was the leader of the "Salome Zourabichvili Public Movement" (2005) and, from 2006, the leader of the political union "The Way of Georgia." In the 8 October 2016 parliamentary elections Zourabichvili won a seat as an independent candidate, representing the Mtatsminda district of Tbilisi. She became MP on 18 November. During her term as MP, she was Deputy chairwoman of the parliamentary committee on Diaspora and Caucasus Issues. On November 28, 2018, she was elected as the fifth President of Georgia.

As a result of the constitutional amendments that were adopted by the parliament of Georgia and came into effect in 2018, Zourabichvili became the last popularly elected president; under the new constitutional rules, Georgian presidents are to be elected indirectly by the Georgian Electoral Assembly.

After the end of her Presidential term she became one of the leaders of opposition.

Literary works: საქართველოსკენ, თბ., 2006; Que sais­je: La Géorgie, P., 1986; Une famme pour deux pays, P., 2006; frontières pour l’Europe, P., 2007; Les cicatrices des Nations, P., 2008.