Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to VK
Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili has once said that the name of his political movement – Georgian Dream – was suggested by his son Ber. In fact, it is the title of Ber’s rap-song, which is very popular among young people. Ber sings about his cherished dream: the free and proud Georgia which will appear if all Georgians dream about it. Later, Ivanishvili gave the same name to his political party and the coalition which participates in the elections under No 41.
Georgian Dream turned into the main rival to the ruling party the United National Movement and continued a political tradition of forming a wide union of opposition parties under the principle of “people’s fronts” – unifying various political forces against one competitor, i.e. the ruling party. The opposition hasn’t always managed to form a coalition “everyone against the one” in the modern history of Georgia. Many parties were left in the basket, but when a strong figure contradicting the authorities appeared, the opposition politicians hail him as a “locomotive”, able to pull out small parties. This tendency characterizes Georgian Dream. Its leader tried to attract various figures and political parties of opposite views to his team. They have only one similar idea: the desire to overthrow the ruling party and its leader – the president.
Along with Georgian Dream, the coalition includes the Republican Party of Liberals and Dissidents of the Soviet epoch, the right-centrist party Free Democrats headed by the former Georgian envoy in the UN, Irakly Alasania, and the National Forum of Kakhi Shartava. Bedzina Ivanishvili invited Georgy Gachechiladze (the Green Party); Zviad Dzidziguri (the Conservative Party), and Koba Davitashvili (the People's Party). Many other opposition forces haven’t joined the coalition, but intensively support it.
Therefore, Georgian Dream united the majority of radical opposition activists and key figures. This is its strength and weakness, as such a “multicolored” coalition cannot develop a clear program of activities after the elections, not to mention a strategic project for the country’s development. The Republicans and the Democrats belong to one coalition, but they cannot agree on the future state structure of Georgia – a presidential or a parliamentary republic. Meantime, National Forum stands for reviving the monarchy.
At the same time, if we look carefully, there are different figures: professional bureaucrats who have worked in all the administrations from the first to last president; businessmen who are interested only in their business; successful lawyers and prominent experts who have never belonged to any party. All of them are relying on Bidzina Ivanishvili, who provides a smarter game than it might seem, and the political elite is giving him an opportunity to gain a foothold in the political field.
