Republicans and Free Democrats plan to participate in municipal elections as bloc

Two non-parliamentary opposition parties, the Republicans and the Free Democrats, may unite under one election bloc for the 2017 municipal elections.

One of the leaders of the Republican Party Khatuna Samnidze told local media that currently consultations are underway and the two parties are likely to create an election bloc.

"Of course, all parties should be preparing for the municipal elections and we are preparing too – we are strengthening our local organisations and thinking about our election strategy”, Samnidze said.

"We are having talks with the Free Democrats who are part of the liberal family. We have a mutual vision and we believe that it is important for parties with shared values and similar ideology to unite and encourage voters to be more active”.

The Free Democrats also confirmed that negotiations are underway.

"We said a long time ago that we are going to cooperate with parties with the same values”, said Nino Goguadze, a representative of the Free Democrats.

"We have a long history of cooperation [with the Republican Party] and we have started consultations. We hope that this process will be successful and we will participate in the Municipal Elections as a bloc”.

The Republicans and the Free Democrats both participated in the 2016 Parliamentary Elections individually but none of them could overcome the five percent threshold to enter the Parliament.

The Municipal Elections in Georgia are scheduled to be held in autumn 2017.