2018 seems to be the year of female presidents, as 66-year-old Salome Zourabichvili becomes the first female president of Georgia.
Recall that a few months ago, Ethiopia also elected its first female president, Sahle-Work Zewde.
Early Life and Education
Ms Zourabichvili was born in Paris in 1952 after her parents fled Georgia in 1921 to escape the Bolshevik regime.
She attended some of the most prestigious French schools, such as Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), and began a master’s program at Columbia University in New York in the academic year 1972–1973.
Career
Zourabichvili abandoned her studies and joined the French foreign service in 1974, becoming a career diplomat with jobs in Rome, the United Nations, Brussels, Washington, etc. The first time Zourabichvili visited Georgia was in 1986, during a break from her job at the French Embassy in Washington.
In 2003, she was posted to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi as ambassador. The following year, President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia nominated her as Minister of Foreign Affairs, making her the first female to be appointed to this post in Georgia.
Political career
In November 2005, Zourabichvili set up the organization Salome Zourabichvili’s Movement. In January 2006, she announced the establishment of a new political party, Georgia’s Way, criticizing the country’s “de facto one-party system.”
On November 12, 2010, Zourabichvili announced her withdrawal from the leadership of Georgia’s Way. She was succeeded by Kakha Seturidze.
After a two-year leave from politics, she publicly endorsed Georgian Dream ahead of the 2013 presidential elections. Shortly after, Georgia’s Central Election Commission refused to register her as a presidential candidate due to her dual Georgian-French citizenship.
In August 2018, Zourabichvili announced that she would participate in the Georgian presidential elections. She won the second round of the 2018 Georgian presidential election, becoming president-elect. She will be inaugurated as the first female President of Georgia on August 16, 2018.
Personal life
Salome Zourabichvili was married to the Georgian journalist Janri Kashia (1940–2012). She has two children, Ketevan and Teimuraz, from her first marriage.
