Two Ministers from Republican Party will resign

Two Ministers within the current Georgian Government will resign ahead of the October 8 Parliamentary Elections in Georgia.

Georgia's Minister of Defence Tinatin Khidasheli and Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality Paata Zakaraeishvili will step down from their posts to participate in the election race representing the David Usupashvili-Republican Party, which will run separately from the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) coalition in the upcoming elections. 

Georgia’s Parliament Speaker and number one on the Republican Party's election list David Usupashvili announced the impending resignations this morning.

When speaking to media Usupashvili added a third Republican Party member who was a Minister in Government had decided to quit the party and remain with the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG) coalition. 

This person was Georgia's Minister of Environment Gigla Agulashvili. His decision to leave the Republican Party ensured allowed him to retain his ministerial post.

Usupashvili said Khidasheli and Zakareishvili would address Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili in the coming days about their resignation. 

Furthermore, in his comments the Republican leader addressed his party members, specifically those who had some suspicious over the success of Republicans, to leave the party within the next two days. 

Usupashvili said his party wished for Khidasheli and Zakareishvili to remain in their ministerial roles until the October 8 elections, despite the fact the current ruling GD coalition intended to split and its member parties will participate in the elections separately. 

However this request was denied, said Usupashvili. He said the major party of the GDDG coalition refused to accept the offer as they thought a multi-party coalition Government in the pre-election period could not be a reasonable solution. 

Speaking about the party Usupashvili stressed the Republicans were "small in number" but they "did much” for Georgia’s advancement. 

He said apart from protecting of state interests inside and outside the country over the last four years the Republican Party played one of the key roles in removing the previous authorities through the 2012 Parliamentary Elections. 

We'll continue fighting for a better Georgia. We'll announce our party plans and our election list in the coming days," Usupashvili said.

Meanwhile, another leader of the Republican Party, David Berdzenishvili, will participate in the elections for the Supreme Council of Georgia’s western, autonomous Adjara region, which is also scheduled on October 8. 

Adjara Supreme Council performs a lawmaking role and controls the region’s government through 21 deputies, 15 of them are elected based on proportional party system while the rest six are majoritarian deputies. 

The current ruling Georgian GD coalition was established by Georgia’s ex-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili prior to the 2012 Parliamentary Elections with the aim of defeating the nine-year rule of the United National Movement (UNM) government. 

At that time the coalition was composed of the following parties: 

• The Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia Party; 
• The Republican Party; 
• The Conservative Party; 
• Our Georgia-Free Democrats Parry; 
• The Industrial Party; 
• The National Forum, and; 
• The People’s party; 

After coming to power through the 2012 elections, the People’s Parry quit the GD coalition in 2013 while the Free Democrats did the same in 2014. 

Recently the GDDG, the Republicans, the National Forum and the Industrials said they each intended to participate in the October 8, 2016 Parliamentary Elections separately. 

Two days ago GDDG party member Zakaria Kutsnashvili said the Conservative Parry would take part in the elections with GDDG. He did not exclude other partnerships either.