New Rights and Republicans propose new alliance

On November 17 the New Rights and Republican parties announced that they would possibly enter into alliance. Both sides said that the parties have found they have a lot in common and have decided to take joint political actions on behalf of the country.

“We don’t know yet what kind of alliance we will form by the time of the elections. Our primary aim is to overcome the present difficult political crisis and change the situation in the country by means of new elections,” said New Rights member Manana Nachkebia. “The Republican Party’s position is that opposition cooperation is very important for the country. We found we had a lot in common with New Rights in Gudauri, where a meeting between us was hosted by the International Republican Institute,’ said leader of the Republicans David Usupashvili.

New Rights hopes that through the new alliance the country will gain an alternative and serious opposition force, which it says is definitely lacking in Georgia right now. The last attempt to create a strong and unified opposition, when prior to the Presidential elections opposition parties (New Rights and Republicans included) united around Presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze, failed, as after the elections the various parties went their separate ways.

A week ago, the leader of the Conservative Party, Kakha Kukava, announced that he would try to create another opposition union in December. Neither the New Rights nor Republicans have expressed a willingness to join this union. Manana Nachkebia says that the parties don’t yet have enough information on who will be part of the union. “The opposition must not make the same mistake it did during the elections. A united opposition was the demand of society and that is what made us to join them,” Nachkebia added.

Member of the United Opposition and leader of the People’s Party Koba Davitashvili has said that the aim of the December alliance will be to unite all the essential political power in the country. He has also said that in the new United Opposition people will see many familiar faces from the Saakashvili Government. He has added that that the new alliance has held consultations with Ombudsman Sozar Subari, who has lately been very critical of the Government.

Political analyst Ramaz Sakvarelidze thinks it is a good thing that the parties are searching for common points to create unity around. “Last time everything was different. The opposition alliance united everything controversial in itself. Now we see that parties with related interests are going to pool their resources,” Sakvarelidze added. He feels sure that it is better to have two opposition coalitions rather than one in which the parties feel differently.

The Republicans are sure that any spontaneous and emotive alliance will founder in the same way the United Opposition did after the May 21 Parliamentary elections. Time will show if the country will support two unions of opposition parties, existing simultaneously.