United Opposition Drafts Declaration of Agreed Action on Parliamentary Elections
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Wednesday, August 19
After the meeting of the opposition parties on 18th of August, a declaration was published in the office of the Labor Party with which the "Democratic Opposition of Georgia" declared the common task to protect the electoral votes.
According to the declaration, ‘Ivanishvili's oligarchic rule poses the greatest challenge to the country and its democratic development.’
“Ivanishvili and his team are doing everything to introduce nihilism in the society, to discredit the whole political process. In these conditions, our most important task is to strengthen public trust and support for the elections,” reads the statement. According to the opposition, elections, a peaceful change of government, is the only right way to enable our society to take firm steps to build a western democratic state: It is in such societies that a change of government is a normal event, which will not lead to the division and retaliation of citizens.
The opposition claims that ‘a large part of both administrative and financial resources is mobilised in the hands of the Ivanishvili regime, and state institutions serve the interests of the ruling team instead of the public.’ That is why it is important for the democratic opposition to work in a coordinated manner to protect each vote and to eliminate electoral manipulation.
To achieve this, the opposition intends to develop concrete mechanisms for cooperation: “Inside the country, with broad public support for the election process and coordination for vote protection, the opposition parties agree to work in concert with international observers to ensure that the legitimacy of the election is not undermined.”
The Labor Party told the media that the agreement would be signed by all opposition parties, regardless of whether or not they participated in periodic consultations in the Labor office. “Opposition parties will work in coordination in all constituencies, including those where we have nominated competing candidates,” they said.
Opposition parties have agreed to work with international observers to ensure that the legitimacy of the elections is not questioned. The task of the parties will not be to protect the votes of voters of different political tastes, but to protect the transparency of the entire electoral process and the choice of each citizen.
"With the defeat of Ivanishvili in the 2020 parliamentary elections, the harmful tradition of electoral manipulation in Georgia must be put to an end," the declaration reads.
The leader of the Labor Party, Shalva Natelashvili noted, the consultations were very difficult, tense, and there is no second precedent in the history of world politics in which the entire opposition spectrum agreed on common majoritarian candidates, even in the capital.
"It will enter the history of Georgia in golden letters and will be included in the policy textbooks. Irakli Okruashvili, a relentless fighter with all the authorities, will be the common candidate of the opposition in Saburtalo district and we are sure that he will win there. Zurab Japaridze, whom we all know and whose activity we are always fascinated by, will be the opposition candidate in Didube-Chugureti district,” Natelashvili said.
This decision shows that the parties gathered in the office of the Labor Party have agreed on common candidates in all 8 majoritarian constituencies of Tbilisi. So far, these parties have nominated the following candidates in 6 constituencies :
Nika Melia - "National Movement" - Gldani;
Levan Khabeishvili - "National Movement" - Samgori;
Shalva Natelashvili - "Labor Party" - Nadzaladevi;
Giorgi Vashadze - "New Georgia" - Isani;
Shalva Shavgulidze - "Free Democrats" - Mtatsminda-Krtsanisi;
Elene Khoshtaria - "European Georgia" - Vake.
