Nato Chkheidze

Nato Chkheidze (Georgian: ნატო ჩხეიძე, born on June 1, 1960) is a Georgian businesswoman and politician, co-founder of the Omega Group with her husband Zaza Okuashvili, and a member of Parliament in 1999-2004 and since 2020.

Born in the family of author Otar Chkheidze, she became a doctor in the last years of Soviet Georgia and launched her political career in 1999 by being elected to the Parliament of Georgia as a member of the Traditionalist Party. An ally of Adjara strongman Aslan Abashidze, she left politics as Mikheil Saakashvili came to power following the Rose Revolution and as the new authorities came down on her family business over alleged tax evasion, leading to the controversial closure of Iberia TV. After Saakashvili's loss in 2012, she joined the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia, a far-right political party with ties to Russia and was re-elected to Parliament in 2016. During that time, she led two highly-controversial visits to Moscow, before leaving the party in 2018 after accusing it of cooperating with the authorities just as Omega Group was once again facing financial pressure from the government.

Joining the State for the People party, which merged with the Saakashvili-affiliated United National Movement, she was reelected in 2020 but took office only in May 2021 after months of a boycott over alleged electoral fraud. She served as vice-chair of the UNM's parliamentary faction "Strength Is in Unity" until May 2023, before leaving the faction along with other SFP members.