After the collapse of the government of Tengiz Sigua on August 5, 1993, Shevardnadze nominated Patsatsia as a new prime minister. He won approval in the parliament on August 20, 1993. He retained his post in the September 7, 1993 reshuffle of the cabinet. The two years of Patsatsia's tenure was marked by increasingly chaotic political environment, violent power struggles, military setback in the secessionist war in Abkhazia, a full-scale civil war with the pro-Gamsakhurdia forces, and severe economic crisis, followed by controversial economical and military agreements with Russia. He was no reformer and had a conservative view of economic development, for example, privatization. Patsatsia resigned on October 5, 1995, to stand for the parliamentary election, in which he ran as a non-party candidate from Zugdidi and won a majoritarian seat for the next four years.