Moscow - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, facing domestic criticism over a failed war with Russia, on Monday dismissed his prime minister and named the country's ambassador to Turkey as his replacement.

He was expected to announce a new cabinet this week in what he said were needed "radical democratic reform" Monday.

Meanwhile, the country's influential former head of parliament Nino Burjanadze formed a new opposition party set to vehicle growing criticism of Saakashvili's management of the war.

Saakashvili recommended the Oxford-educated Grigol Mgaloblishvili, the country's 35-year-old ambassador to Turkey, to parliament in a nationally televised address Monday.

It was not immediately clear why prime minister Lado Gurgenidze, 37, who was named after a series of anti-government protests in November 2007, had been dismissed.

Saakashvili said the outgoing premier would head a new government finance commission tasked with "stabilizing the country's financial sector."

"We took a joint decision with Lado Gurgenidze that he will no longer serve as prime minister," Saakashvili said at an open meeting with lawmakers.

Mgaloblishvili, who has never before held office and has been posted to Ankara since 2004, will be charged with forming the new cabinet for parliament's approval.

Saakashvili said Mgaloblishvili had been appointed in part as a "prime minister who will be able to attract investments" and cited neighboring regional power Turkey's large investment in the Caucasus nation.

The outgoing Gurgenidze, 37, had been appointed in 2007 from a career in banking and cut a figure as a pro-Western politician Saakashvili charged with attracting foreign investment and maintaining economic growth rates.

Three months on from Tbilisi's thwarted attempt by Russian troops to reassert control over its separatist region of South Ossetia, Saakashvili's domestic critics have grown more vocal and investor confidence has taken a hit, seeing economic growth forecasts dive.

A group of opposition factions have called a protest for November 7 to mark the anniversary a police crackdown against protestors of Saakashvili's government.

Saakashvili declared a state of emergency to reign in the demonstrations last fall, then called early elections amid Western criticism.

A pro-Western leader and firm ally of the United States, Saakashvili rose to power on the back of mass popular protest in 2003 known as the "Rose Revolution.

Under his leadership the country, strategical set across oil and gas pipelines form the Caspian, moved toward NATO membership and closer ties with the EU.

The international community was left aghast at Russia's occupation of Georgia following the conflict in August pledged 3.4 billion euros in aide at donors conference last week.

But Saakashvili's opponents say he provoked an impossible to win war with Russia that is the last proof of an unreasonable and head- strong leadership.

Burjanadze, a former ally of the president's in parliament, slammed the president in an open letter in Georgian daily Rezonansi last week asking him to choose between the ideals of the revolution and a personal power grab. (dpa)