Gubaz Sanikidze

Gubaz Sanikidze
გუბაზ სანიკიძე
Sanikidze in 2013
Member of the Parliament of Georgia
Assumed office
11 December 2020
Parliamentary groupStrength Is in Unity
In office
21 October 2012 – 18 November 2016
Preceded byAkaki Bobokhidze
Succeeded byGenadi Margvelashvili
Parliamentary groupGeorgian Dream
ConstituencyKutaisi
In office
7 June 2008 – 20 June 2008
Parliamentary groupNational Forum
In office
20 November 1999 – 22 April 2004
Parliamentary groupDemocratic Union for Revival
In office
14 November 1990 – 2 January 1992
Parliamentary groupUnion of Georgian Traditionalists
ConstituencyAmbrolauri
Personal details
Born (1967-02-02) 2 February 1967 (age 57)
Kutaisi (Georgian SSR)
Political partyTraditionalists (1990–2004)
National Forum (2006–2016)
Victorious Georgia (since 2019)
Other political
affiliations
Round Table—Free Georgia (1990-1992)
United National Council (2007-2008)
Georgian Dream (2012-2016)
Strength is in Unity (2019-present)
Alma materTbilisi State University
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionHistorian

Gubaz Sanikidze (Georgian: გუბაზ სანიკიძე; born 2 February 1967) is a Georgian politician, currently serving as a member of the Parliament of Georgia from the United National Movement (UNM) since 2020. A career historian, he was first elected to Georgia's legislature during the 1990 elections that saw the downfall of the Soviet regime, as a member of the conservative Traditionalist Party. Following the Georgian Civil War, his party formed an alliance with the authoritarian leader of Adjara Aslan Abashidze and he was elected to a second term as MP in 1999, during which he became an opponent to President Eduard Shevardnadze. After the rise to power of a new government with the Rose Revolution, he remained in the opposition and lost his seat in 2004, launching with other veteran politicians the National Forum. He briefly served a third term in Parliament in 2008, resigning his seat two weeks after being elected.

A vocal critique of President Mikheil Saakashvili, Sanikidze joined the Georgian Dream coalition as it defeated UNM in 2012 and won a fourth term in Parliament as Majoritarian MP from Kutaisi. He successively served as Chairman of the Diaspora and Caucasus Committee, pushing for closer ties between Georgia and Iran, and as Vice Speaker of Parliament. In 2016, Sanikidze left the National Forum and became an opponent of the GD government. He would be reelected, this time as a member of SIU, to Parliament in 2020.