Right-wing businessman Vasadze announces he’s entering politics
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, May 7
Ultranationalist businessman Levan Vasadze intends to enter politics. He recently founded the civic movement ‘Unity, Essence, Hope’ which will later develop into a political party. According to him, it was a difficult decision, but, as he emphasized at the conference, against the background of the permanent political, cultural, social and ideological crises, the signing of the EU-mediated ‘Danielsson’s Document’ by Georgian political parties was ‘the last straw’ for him.
Vasadze thinks that besides the harsh decision of releasing criminals from prison in violation of the law, this agreement grossly violated and reduced our country’s sovereignty.
“Limited, oppressed, fragile and small sovereignty is almost non-existent for the simple reason that our state can no longer decide for itself how the CEC will work and how to count the votes, how anti-corruption institutions and structures work within themselves. These are key, fundamental issues for the sovereignty of any three states.”
According to Vasadze, last year, he said that ‘unpromising and harmful political reform’ would deepen the political crisis and that the parliamentary elections would not produce the desired result of stabilizing the country. He underlines that the population’s social and economic hardships are worsening even further. Vasadze does not consider the pandemic as the main reason for this situation. He once again mentioned ‘destructive political reforms’, as a result of which, in his estimation, the orderly system of government decision-making in the country is broken.
In his speech, Vasadze called for ‘fundamentally’ changing the Georgian political system, citing the switch to a parliamentary system and the diminished powers of the Georgian President as “she’s the key reason behind the country’s decline.”
Vasadze made a political statement at the Tbilisi Marriott and presented his plan as well. The presentation of the public movement will be held on May 16 in Tbilisi. According to its leader, ‘broad agenda’ will be set for the gathering of members of the movement, before which, he will hold meetings with supporters around the country.
The leader of the political party Citizens MP Aleko Elisahsvili stated that Vasadze ‘is a Russian spy’. And I would be happy for such people to have little support in Georgia.”
According to the member of the parliamentary majority, Mikheil Sarjveladze, it's difficult to assess Vasadze’s chances in politics, however, Sarjveladze recalled that his statements often featured radical forms that were incompatible with human rights values. As for the EU-brokered deal, the MP commented that ‘European future is the only way for Georgia’.
Reportedly enjoying friendly relations with Russian Eurasianist ideologue Alexander Dugin, Vasadze himself has been called one of the chief ideologues of Georgian nativism. The influential figure in Georgia’s far-right and ultra-conservative groups is known for his ultranationalist, xenophobic, homophobic and pro-Russian sentiments.
His name is associated with organizing several homophobic rallies. The businessman announced the formation of vigilante patrols against ‘gay propaganda’ in June 2019, when he spearheaded an anti-LGBT rally. The statement led to a criminal investigation for forming, leading, participating, or aiding ‘illegal groupings’. “Vasadze was also at the forefront of another anti-LGBT protest in November 2019, when hate groups descended upon a Tbilisi cinema to disrupt the premiere of a queer Georgian-Swedish film ‘And Then We Danced’.
