Salome Zourabichvili served as the fifth president of Georgia, holding office from 2018 to 2024. As the first woman elected to this position in the nation's history, her tenure marked a significant transition in the constitutional framework of the country, ending her term as the final popularly elected president before the implementation of indirect electoral assembly voting rules.
Early Life and Education
Born in Paris on 18 March 1952, Zourabichvili grew up within the Georgian diaspora community in France. Her family had fled the 1921 Red Army invasion of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. She attended Sciences Po, entering the International Section in 1970, and later studied Soviet politics under Zbigniew Brzezinski at Columbia University during the 1972–1973 academic year.
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Zourabichvili joined the French diplomatic service in the 1970s. After decades of senior roles, she served as the Ambassador of France to Georgia between 2003 and 2004. In 2004, she accepted Georgian citizenship and became the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. During this period, she negotiated a treaty that secured the withdrawal of Russian military forces from uncontested regions of the Georgian mainland.
Political Career and Presidency
After disagreements with the United National Movement, she established her own political party in 2006, which she led until 2010. She returned to electoral politics in 2016, winning a seat in the Parliament of Georgia as an independent candidate. In 2018, she won the presidential run-off against Grigol Vashadze. Her term saw increasing friction with the Georgian Dream party, culminating in a failed impeachment attempt by the government in September 2023.
Academic Contributions
Between 2006 and 2014, Zourabichvili returned to Sciences Po as a professor at the Paris School of International Affairs. Her teaching focused on the foreign policy of major powers, the post-Soviet world, and Eurasian development following the dissolution of the USSR. She also performed academic analysis on the institutional progression of the European Union during times of systemic crisis.
Fast facts
- Born: 18 March 1952, Paris
- Citizenship: France; Georgia
- Education: Sciences Po; Columbia University
- President of Georgia: 2018-2024
- Minister of Foreign Affairs: 2004-2005
- Languages: French, German, Italian, English, Georgian
- Religion: Georgian Orthodox Church
- Award: Knight of the Legion of Honour (2003)
Questions readers ask
Was she the first female president of Georgia?
Yes, she was the first woman elected to the presidency in the history of Georgia.
Did she hold citizenship in more than one country?
Yes, she holds citizenship in both France and Georgia.
Achievements
- ambassador of France to Georgia (2003–2004)
- Member of the Parliament of Georgia (2016–2018)
- Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia (2004–2005)
- President of Georgia (2018–2024)
- Knight of the National Order of Merit
- Knight of the Legion of Honour — 2003
- Knight of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity
- Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
- Educated at Sciences Po and Columbia University
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