Alliance of Patriots of Georgia

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Alliance of Patriots of Georgia
საქართველოს პატრიოტთა ალიანსი
Chairman
Secretary-GeneralIrma Inashvili
Founded2012
HeadquartersTbilisi, Georgia
IdeologyNational conservatism
Social conservatism[1]
Right-wing populism[1]
Christian democracy[2][3]
Political positionCentre-right[4] to
right-wing[1]
Colours    Red, Gold
Seats in Parliament
0 / 150
Municipal Councilors
90 / 2,043
Seats In Tbilisi City Assembly
2 / 50
Seats In Batumi City Assembly
1 / 25
Seats In Borjomi Council
11 / 28
Website
http://patriots.ge/

The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia (Georgian: საქართველოს პატრიოტთა ალიანსი, Sakartvelos Patriotta Aliansi, APG) is a right wing, conservative opposition party in the republic of Georgia.[5] It was founded in 2012 by leaders from the Resistance Movement, which opposed the government of Mikheil Saakashvili.[6] In the 2014 local elections, it gained an aggregate vote nationwide of 4.6%, exceeding the 4% threshold required to qualify as a political party for government funding. Through party-list voting in 47 cities, it won proportional seat representation on the local councils of 30 municipalities, including Tbilisi.[7] In June 2016, the party formed a bloc with five other parties (Free Georgia, led by Kakha Kukava; Tavisupleba, led by Konstantine Gamsakhurdia; Union of Georgian Traditionalists, led by Akaki Asatiani; New Christian-Democrats, led by , and Political Movement of Law Enforcement and Armed Forces Veterans) for the scheduled 2016 parliamentary election,[8] finishing 3rd place in the proportional votе and just passing the electoral threshold of 5%.

History[]

The party was established in December 2012,[9] by founders including , and Irma Inashvili. Giorgi Lomia is political secretary.[7] The party leadership also includes former warlord Emzar Kvitsiani, a figure that has attracted significant controversy.[10] The Alliance party was based on the Resistance Movement, a group fiercely critical of the former ruling party, the United National Movement.

The Alliance of Patriots maintains anti-Turkish rhetoric, warning of Ankara's alleged designs on the Adjara region, has called for delaying free trade with the EU, and argues that the pursuit of NATO membership is fruitless, as NATO's leading members have themselves made clear that Georgia has little prospect of accession.[7]

The Alliance party has a television channel, Objective, run by Inashvili. Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi has a series on the channel in which he lectures on the Bible and Orthodox Christianity. A mathematician, he served in earlier administrations as "head of the state department for information technologies in the early 2000s, and as head of the customs department for several months in 2003."[7]

In the 2014 local elections the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia party received 4.7% of the aggregate vote, meeting the required threshold of 4% to qualify as a political party, and making it eligible for future state funding for elections. It ran in a party-list contest for proportional city assembly seats in 47 of a total of 71 municipalities and cities. In 30 jurisdictions, its party-list voting exceeded 4%, making it eligible for seats on 30 local councils, including that of Tbilisi.[7][11]

Inashvili finished fourth in the mayoral election in Tbilisi with 5.4% of the vote; the party won two seats in the Tbilisi City Assembly. In addition, Alliance of Patriots of Georgia mayoral candidates qualified for run-off elections against Georgian Dream (GD) candidates in the cities of Poti and Ozurgeti; and Alliance candidates qualified for second-round runoffs for municipal executives in the municipalities of Lanchkhuti and Khulo.[7]

In April, 2018, one of the leaders of the Party, Emzar Kvitsiani, publicly admitted working with Russian special services (notably with GRU) purposefully making false, erroneous and propagandistic statements on their behalf.[12]

Ideology[]

The party supports 'Christian and democratic values', and demonstrates itself as a moderate conservative party.[4] The party campaigned against the building of a mosque in Adjara, saying “Turkey has too much influence in Georgia”. It has been accused of Anti-Turkism.[1] The party officially favours closer ties with both Russia and the European Union, but according to many, it's a pro-Russian[13][14][15] party with anti-Western platform which only seeks closer ties with Russia.[16]

Electoral performance[]

Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– Position Government
2016 Irma Inashvili 88,109 5.01
6 / 150
 new 3rd No
2020 Irma Inashvili 60,493 3.14
4 / 150
 Decrease 2 6th No

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Kucera, Joshua (Oct 24, 2016). "Georgia: Disillusion with Establishment Fuels Rise of Populism". Eurasianet.
  2. ^ "Our Party". Alliance of Patriots of Georgia.
  3. ^ "Georgia's traditionalists form new coalition ahead of election". 2016-06-08.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Alliance of Patriots of Georgia". .
  5. ^ Cecire, Michael (March 9, 2015). "The Kremlin pulls on Georgia". Foreign Policy.
  6. ^ Cecire, Michael (November 10, 2015). "Divide and conquer in Georgia". Foreign Affairs.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Local Elections Boost Alliance of Patriots' Ambitions for Parliamentary Polls" Archived 2016-10-13 at the Wayback Machine, Civil Georgia, 21 June 2014
  8. ^ "Alliance of Patriots Forms 6-Party Bloc for Elections". Civil Georgia. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  9. ^ Georgian Electoral Amendment Clears Early Hurdle, But Vote Concerns Persist Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 19 December 2015
  10. ^ Fuller, Liz (January 28, 2015). "Georgian Court Releases Jailed Warlord". Radio Free Europe. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  11. ^ Tom Lansford (2015) Political Handbook of the World 2015, CQ Press
  12. ^ "Youtube".
  13. ^ Pro-Russian party wins a toe-hold in Georgia's new parliament, Reuters
  14. ^ Pro-Russian Parties in Georgia's 2016 Parliamentary Election: A Growing Footprint?
  15. ^ Tbilisi: Pro-Russian party supporters demand Azerbaijan cede claim to ancient border monastery
  16. ^ "Unpatriotic activity of the "Alliance of Patriots"". www.ifact.ge/en. 2020-12-14. Retrieved 2021-04-13.

External links[]

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