Republican Party to participate in elections independently,
Ministers retain roles in Government

The Republican Party of Georgia – one of the parties of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) coalition – today announced it will withdraw from the coalition and take part in the October Parliamentary Elections independently.

Party leaders said by doing this, it would end all speculation about inter-coalition confrontation and allow the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party to take the political path it strived to achieve while the Republican Party would follow its own political agenda.

The Republicans said it would remain working alongside the coalition before participating in the upcoming Parliamentary Elections independently.

Party leaders said members who currently held Ministerial or other high level positions in Government would retain their roles as long as this didn’t hinder the Prime Minister or the Republican Party’s political agenda.

This was confirmed by Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili today, who said the notion for a political party to remove itself from a coalition and participate in elections independently was completely "normal” and "acceptable”.

Despite the Republican’s decision [to exit the coalition] we believe at this stage it is better to continue with the existing situation and continue working together,” Kvirikashvili said. 

Georgia’s Parliament Speaker David Usupashvili, his wife and Minister of Defence Tinatin Khidasheli, and Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia Gigla Agulashvili are from the Republican Party. 

The Republicans have eight lawmakers in the 150-seat Parliament, while 44 seats are occupied by the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party. 

In the statement Republican Party leaders said before the Parliamentary Elections in October, its members who held official positions in Government and in other state institutions would gradually step down from their roles. 

We will try out steps not to trigger questions about state stability and the country’s foreign orientation, or questions that might hinder the visa liberalisation process or Georgia’s striving towards the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO),” the Republicans said in a statement today.

Head of the Republican Party Khatuna Samnidze revealed the Party's recent solution. Photo by Republicans' webpage. 

The party added when in Cabinet, Republican ministers would continue fulfilling their duties to serve Governmental programs approved by Parliament through the Prime Minister’s leadership however the situation in the legislative body would be different. 

In Parliament the Republicans faction will act based on the political party priorities, except on issues that had been previously been agreed in the majority format,” said the Republicans.

The GD coalition was created prior to the 2012 Parliamentary Elections through the initiative of ex-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.

The coalition was composed of representatives from:

• The Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party;
• The Republican Party of Georgia; 
•  Our Georgia - Free Democrats;
• The Conservative Party of Georgia;
•  Industry Will Save Georgia political party;
• The People’s Party of Georgia;
• The National Forum political party:
• And several other individuals. 

Initially the coalition was established as a "temporarily unity” to replace United National Movement (UNM)’s nine-year rule in the country.