Free Democrats, European Georgia to Have Joint Candidate in Mtatsminda by Elections
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, March 22
The European Georgia parliamentary opposition and the Free Democrats will have a joint candidate on May 19 by elections in the Mtatsminda district of Tbilisi, for the seat which became vacant after the election of Salome Zurabishvili as the president of Georgia.
The two parties, whose members opposing one another in the past, now say that they have common values.
Free Democrats were one of the parties of the Georgian Dream coalition which defeated the nine-year-rule of the United National Movement in 2012, while the European Georgia is composed of many of former members of the UNM.
Shavgulidze, who is now one of the leaders of Free Democrats, says that the country is in big trouble and unity is needed to make improvements.
He says that the authoritarian leadership [of the founder of the ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili] must come to an end in the country.
Gigi Ugulava, once one of the leaders of the UNM, says that the Free Democrats and the European Georgia do not have a common past, but the vision of the future is the same.
“I believe that Shavgulidze will become the first swallow of the oppositional unity against the current state leadership,” Ugulava said.
Last year the European Georgia nominated Shavgulidze as the candidate for the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia.
However, later the seat was occupied by Shalva Tadumadze, once the government’s representative to parliament.
Free Democrats - the party led by ex-Defence Minister Irakli Alasania –was the first which left the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) coalition in 2014, which was preceded by controversies between Ivanishvili and Alasania.
In 2016 Alasania stated that he quit politics.
Several key members of the United National Movement left the party after the 2016 parliamentary elections and created the European Georgia opposition party.
