Irakli Kobakhidze (; born 25 September 1978) is a Georgian politician, serving as Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia from 2016 to 2019 and serving as Member of Georgian Parliament since 2016.

He was the Executive Secretary and Political Council Member of the ruling party Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia, vice-president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Professor at the Tbilisi State University, former Chairman of the State Constitutional Commission and the editor of the present Constitution of Georgia.

Under Irakli Kobakhidze's leadership, the Parliament of Georgia implemented wide-scale constitutional reform in Georgia. The reforms established a European-type parliamentary system of government, and stipulated EU and NATO integration as the constitutionally-enshrined foreign policy objectives of Georgia. 

In response to statements made by Ukrainian officials such as Presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych and Oleksiy Goncharenko about Georgia having "good opportunity" to retake Abkhazia and South Ossetia against the backdrop of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kobakhidze criticized appeals to military solution of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-Ossetian conflicts, instead suggesting peaceful reconciliation and accused Ukraine of pushing Georgia into the war against Russia and "opening a second front", which would alleviate Ukraine's situation but bring "severe consequences" for Georgia. Kobakhidze later elaborated that there was a coordinated effort by "Global War Party" to drag Georgia into the war, which he described as "certain forces" in "specific countries". 

Kobakhidze described the European Parliament resolutions critical of Georgian government's policy as influenced by the effort of this "Global War Party" to push Georgia into the war. Kobakhidze's statements were criticized as anti-European and anti-American, accusing the West of pushing Georgia into the war and "opening a second front". Kobakhidze stated in response that Georgia would not deviate of its path of EU membership and continue the process of EU integration, while calling the US and EU to "distance themselves from calls for Georgia to engage in war".

Biography
Kobakhidze’s father was involved in politics in the 90’s, having been a prominent supporter of Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Irakli graduated from the Law Faculty of Tbilisi State University in 2000. Later, from 2002–2006, he advanced his legal education at the University of Dusseldorf, Germany, where he was awarded the LLM and PhD degrees. Since 2006, Kobakhidze has worked with international organizations and academic institutions. For several years, he held expert and managerial positions at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Simultaneously, he held academic positions at the Tbilisi State University and Caucasus University.

In 2015, Kobakhidze was appointed as Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream party. In this position, he, together with Kakha Kaladze, the Secretary General of the party, implemented inner-party reforms mainly focused on strengthening regional structures and renewing the political team of the party. He was the deputy campaign manager for the 2016 parliamentary elections and the campaign manager for the 2017 municipal elections, thus playing an important role in the remarkable electoral success of the party in these years.

In 2017–2018, under his leadership, a wide-scale constitutional reform was implemented in Georgia. The new constitution established a European-type parliamentary system of government. It divided competencies among different branches of government in accordance with the principle of separation of powers, introduced the proportional system of parliamentary elections, strengthened the role of the Parliament and the political rights of the opposition, advanced the constitutional guarantees of human rights, independence of the judiciary and local self-government, and stipulated EU and NATO integration as the constitutional task of all constitutional bodies.

Under Kobakhidze's leadership, the Parliament of Georgia strengthened its international ties – the Parliament was actively involved in the implementation of the non-recognition policy of the occupied regions of Georgia; the Parliamentary Assemblies of Georgia-Ukraine-Moldova and Georgia-Poland were established; strategic cooperation agreements were signed with a number of the Parliaments of the partner countries.

Kobakhidze made the decision to resign from the chairmanship when Russian Duma Deputy Sergei Gavrilov arbitrarily sat in the chair of the speaker of Parliament during the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy at the plenary session hall of the Parliament of Georgia. Currently, Irakli Kobakhidze is a Member of Parliament, vice-president of PACE, Executive Secretary, Political Council Member and campaign manager of the Georgian Dream party, as well as Professor at the Law Faculty of the Tbilisi State University.

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1978 births
Politicians from Tbilisi
Speakers of the Parliament of Georgia
Georgian Dream politicians
Living people
Tbilisi State University alumni
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf alumni