(Bloomberg) -- The ruling Georgian Dream party named its outgoing chairman, Irakli Kobakhidze, as the next prime minister amid a shakeup in the government that saw the current premier resign ahead of October parliamentary elections.

Former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili made the announcement Thursday at a party gathering, after saying on Monday that he would step down from his position and take on the role of Georgian Dream chairman. 

Kobakhidze said that he would name a new defense minister, but that all other cabinet members would remain in their roles.

The party’s billionaire founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, also attended the gathering, held just a month after announcing he would return to politics, promising changes. 

Garibashvili said when announcing his resignation that while he was confident Georgian Dream would win in October, other members of the party “deserve the chance” to lead the government. Garibashvili has held the premier role twice for a total of five years, while Kobakhidze, 45, led the ruling party following his tenure as the parliament’s speaker from 2016 to 2019. 

Georgia is set to hold parliamentary elections Oct. 26. The current government faces a vote of confidence in the legislature after losing a seventh cabinet minister in less than a year, calling into question the ruling coalition’s grasp on its majority. 

Over the past year, the party backtracked on an attempt to pass a “foreign agents” law that critics compared to one used by Russian President Vladimir Putin to crush dissent and faced accusations of failing to support Ukraine after the Kremlin’s February 2022 invasion. Party leaders also tried, but failed, to impeach the country’s president, Salome Zourabichvili, who was elected with backing from Georgian Dream to the largely ceremonial post in 2018.

Under the constitution, parliament has to approve the new prime minister within two weeks. 

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