Kvirikashvili stepped down as Prime Minister on 13 June 2018, citing his differences with Bidzina Ivanishvili, a recently reappointed influential chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, and triggering the resignation of the entire cabinet.

By that time, he was largely a political unknown; 55% of respondents had not heard of him according to a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute in May 2018, two weeks before Bakhtadze's nomination.

[6] In his address to the UN General Assembly in September 2018, Bakhtadze denounced the ongoing Russian military presence in breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia and spoke of Georgia's new peace initiatives offered to these entities.

[7] During his tenure as prime minister, the government adopted Otkhozoria–Tatunashvili List to sanction Abkhazians and South Ossetians responsible for crimes committed against Georgians in separatist regions.

[8] Bakhtadze unveiled various economic and political reform plans in 2018, such as those in education system[9] and related to green economy, including the Clean Transport policy.