Georgia's largest opposition party ready to create coalition

Georgia's largest opposition party, the United National Movement, proposes a unification of small parties for the next parliamentary elections, the party’s leader Levan Bezhashvili said. M

The United National Movement Party has been actively gathering small parties around itself for the past few years to unite before the elections. Thus, in 2020, representatives of such small parties as the National Democratic Movement and the State for the People entered the parliament on the lists, and by the 2021 elections, the party joined forces with the “Girchi More Freedom” and the “Droa” parties, Caliber.Az reports per Georgian media.

“We offer parties with a rating of 2-3-4 per cent to unite around a single strategy and fight against the Georgian Dream [the ruling party of Georgia - ed.],” Bezhashvili said.

At the same time, he noted that the "common strategy" does not imply a party unification or a single list in the elections.

“We mean by ‘common strategy’ the kind of borders we will have in relation to each other, and an action plan, and not a party association, places on the list,” Bezhashvili added.

At the same time, he noted that the National Movement offers cooperation to all parties, including the Lelo party.

Meanwhile, the Lelo party itself announced its readiness to enter into a coalition with pro-European parties, while one of the leaders of the party, David Usupashvili, said that Lelo wants to play a leading role in this coalition.

Parliamentary elections will be held in October 2024 under a completely new system. The elections will be fully proportional and with a high entry barrier of 5 per cent.

At the same time, in order to get a majority in parliament and thus the right to single-handedly form the government, the party must win the votes of more than half of the voters who came to the polls.

According to public opinion surveys, only the Georgian Dream and the main opposition party, the United National Movement, have a chance to overcome the barrier so far. In all cases, the gap between these parties is significant in favour the Georgian Dream, but only one study indicates that the current ruling party can get a parliamentary majority this time.