Giorgi Gakharia, the leader of the “For Georgia” party, names three principles, on which he is ready to join the coalition created around Lelo – “Strong Georgia” – even if the other side agrees.
Gakharia noted that it was a mistake to start the process of negotiations on the unification so late, although it would not be right to refuse the president’s offer either.
“I should have ended these negotiations earlier, as soon as it was not possible to agree on a neutral platform. Conceding this issue encouraged the greed of the other side, which eventually led the process to a dead end. I put a full stop because the goal of starting negotiations has reached a dead end,” said Gakharia.
Giorgi Gakharia listed what Khazaradze did not agree to:
A neutral platform — he said that he has many millions invested in Lelo party, so a neutral platform is impossible due to this and lack of time;
The parity and fair decision-making principle – it was said that there is a coalition and there are many subjects, although the relationship between these subjects is unclear then and still today;
The principle of inadmissibility of coalition not only with “Georgian Dream” but also with “National Movement”.
“We gave up on everything—party and party number—which instead of reciprocating compromises made the other side more hungry, and the process ultimately and completely missed its original goal. Therefore, we return to the conditions necessary for the original goal and publicly declare our readiness with the following issues – a neutral political platform, a fair parity principle of decision-making and the principle of not allowing a coalition with both “Georgian Dream” and “National Movement” after these elections… If “Lelo” says today that they agree to these three principles, we will sign any document,” said Gakharia.
A neutral platform, he noted, means a new party, with a new name and number, under which this union will enter the elections. For example, Giorgi Gakharia stated that the first words of the names “Lelo – Georgia” and “Gakharia” should be removed and the name of the party should remain “Georgia”.
Negotiations on the union between Giorgi Gakharia and Mamuka Khazaradze took place with the mediation of the president and ended without an agreement.
Mamuka Khazaradze, one of the leaders of the “Strong Georgia” coalition, also says that he is still ready to sign the unification agreement under the following conditions:
Union under number 9;
Making a promise that they will never contribute to the creation of the “Georgian Dream” government;
Completion of the Anaklia port project with Western investments;
Management of the new union with full parity.
Related story: Gakharia for Georgia, ‘Strong Georgia’ could not reach agreement on unification
