“Georgian Dream” celebrates its 7th year in office
By Lizi Zurabiani
Wednesday, October 2
Georgian Dream releases statement assessing 7 years in power.
According to the ruling party, "Seven years together prove that the" Georgian Dream "is a political force that pursues a consistent, peaceful and human-focused policy and is capable of overcoming all the challenges facing our country, together with the Georgian people."
“Seven years have passed since the historic event of October 1, 2012. On this day, the coalition of Bidzina Ivanishvili and the Georgian people won against the violent regime through elections.
It has taken years for the country to embrace its legacy of violence, fear, and torture for the past.
It is important to remember our history, to remember the price of victory on October 1st. It is important to remember what atrocities we were dealing with under the leadership of the United National Movement and the brutality we all had together.
For the past seven years, the Georgian people, along with the Georgian Dream, have reaffirmed their commitment to the values of October 1 at every election and have assured the world that a violent regime will never return to its head and that Georgian society will not take revenge.
The Georgian Dream does and will do everything to maintain peace, stability, progress and the pursuit of prosperity in the country.
Constitutional reform, judicial reform, law enforcement reform, freedom of the media, business and civil society, democracy, publicity, governance transparency, social responsibility, European and Euro-Atlantic integration - the past seven years have been full of great work, victories and achievements.
These are the results obtained by going against destructive forces and their media propaganda. Against this backdrop, the revanchist forces opposed these achievements by replicating lies, modeling reality, and trying to portray goodness as evil, white for seven years.
Today a high standard of democracy has been achieved and another proof of this is the ongoing constitutional process aimed at holding the 2020 parliamentary elections in a proportional system. Transparency and fairness of elections have become a tradition established by the Georgian Dream for Georgian democracy. Next year's parliamentary elections will be held proportionally, and the Georgian people will once again demonstrate the supreme will of who is in charge of governing the country.
We will always win together and we will definitely put the country on the rails of irreversible development!
We congratulate you today!” reads the statement.
The new PM, Giorgi Gakharia also responds to the 7th anniversary of the Georgian Dream coming to power and congratulates Georgian people on the victory of Bidzina Ivanishvili's team in the October 1st, 2012 elections.
“Congratulations today. Today is October 1st. In 2012, the Georgian people, Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the party, peacefully took another step towards the democratization of the country, the results of which we are imitating today. That it is our obligation.
I congratulate every person who then sincerely participated in civic activities. Another step towards the development of Georgian democracy is the transition to a proportional electoral system. We will have many more victories like this, "said the Prime Minister.
When asked about changes made throughout the last 7 years Giorgi Gakharia cited an example of increased pension.
"Although this is not enough and should be more, for example, the pension of pensioners over 70 in the region will be 300 lari. Even more will change but no one denies that there are many challenges," Giorgi Gakharia added.
The leading party in the Georgian government, “Georgian Dream”, first appeared in 2012. The party was established on 19 April 2012 by the billionaire businessman and politician Bidzina Ivanishvili. The party successfully challenged the ruling United National Movement (UMN) in the 2012 parliamentary election, pledging to increase welfare spending and pursue a more pragmatic foreign policy with Russia. It won this election in coalition with six other opposition parties, with 54.97% of the vote, being allotted 85 seats in parliament.
Two presidents were replaced during the ruling of Georgian Dream, Giorgi Margvelashvili (2013-2018) and current president Salome Zourabichvili. As well as five Prime Ministers, Bidzina Ivanishvili (2012-2013), Irakli Garibashvili (2013-2015), Giorgi Kvirikashvili (2015-2018), Mamuka Bakhtadze (2018-2019) and current PM Giorgi Gakharia.
