City Hall without the Free Democrats
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Monday, April 6
The Free Democrats faction of the Tbilisi City Assembly no longer functions. The party released a special statement regarding this issue.
“After the Free Democrats moved to the opposition, noncompliance between the party’s strategy and activities of the faction in the City Assembly have become more and more obvious. The faction members have been repeatedly told about the great importance of the noncompliance. Unfortunately, they did not turn out ready enough to oppose the government. Therefore, by their decision, they are no longer members of the Free Democrats party, and the faction will no longer function in the City Assembly,” reads the statement.
Leader of the Free Democrats Irakli Alasania said that this was just a political decision and it will not affect their personal relationships.
After the decision, the former Free Democrats released a statement where they explain their decision about continuing work as an independent faction in the Tbilisi City Assembly.
According to the statement, they appealed to the Free Democrats party about leaving it on March 31.
"The path we traveled with the Free Democrats was quite difficult. There was a battle against the nine-year regime and we made our contribution to its defeat. We want to thank all the people with whom we walked the path, but recently we have had different opinions on a number of issues. We have decided to continue to work as an independent faction in the City Assembly and to be free of any party obligations, because we believe that our commitment to the voters is more important," reads the statement.
“We are now free from our partisan obligations, so we can now make honest decisions over the issues,” stated Lia Jakhveladze, one of the former members of the Free Democrats.
Tbilisi City Assembly Chairman Giorgi Alibegashvili presumes that the former Free Democrats members of the City Assembly will set up a new faction.
“It was an internal process of the party to dissolve the faction in the City Assembly. They are worthy people. We have fought many battles together and they have made very important decisions in the City Assembly. They opposed us about many issues too, but they have always been constructive. I hope healthy communication will continue with them,” stated Alibegashvili.
City Hall independent member Aleko Elisashvili said that he felt that the Free Democrats had no control over their representatives for long time.
“This is good decision, now they at least know for sure that they have no members in the City Hall,” stated Elisashvili.
The United National Movement (UNM) representative in the City Hall Irakli Abesadze said that the Free Democrat representatives never were against the Georgian Dream (GD).
Deputy Chairperson of the City Hall Giorgi Tkhemaladze called that the former Free Democrats members honest and worthy people.
