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.[1]
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,[2] Chikovani participated in the Free Democrats 2016 election campaign, in which the party failed to obtain any seats.[3] 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.[4] On February 8, 2024, Chikovani joined Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's government as the Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.[5]