Aleko Elisashvili joins Lelo-led Strong Georgia alliance

Aleko Elisashvili’s Citizens party has joined the Lelo-led Strong Georgia alliance two months ahead of October’s parliamentary elections.

Elisashvili announced that he would join the opposition alliance on Monday, after stating he was in ‘very active’ negotiations with Strong Georgia in late July.

The Alliance, formed in mid-July, consists of Mamuka Khazaradze’s Lelo, Anna Dolidze’s For the People, and Levan Tsutskiridze’s recently established Freedom Square. 

Strong Georgia, much like Khazardze’s Lelo, seeks to position itself as a political centre for voters disillusioned with both the ruling Georgian Dream party and the formerly ruling United National Movement (UNM).

Addressing the crowd alongside Khazaradze, Dolidze, and Tsutskiridze at Orbeliani Square in Tbilisi on Monday, Elisashvili acknowledged his past disagreements with Khazaradze but emphasised that this was a time for unity, not for ‘offering apologies to each other’.

When rumours of an alliance between Khazaradze and Elisashvili surfaced, Georgian Dream members and pro-government media were quick to recall a heated exchange between the two opposition leaders on a Rustavi 2 talk show in early 2021. 

During an interview, Khazaradze and Elisashvili had disagreed over whether the opposition should boycott the results of the 2021 parliamentary elections, which quickly escalated into a verbal altercation between the two.

During the announcement on Monday, Elisashvili stressed that he and Khazaradze should not ‘remain stuck in that TV show’.

The alliance may have deliberately chosen Orbeliani Square as a venue for their announcement in a likely reference to Elisashvili’s 2011 campaign to preserve the square.

In 2017, Elisashvili ran for mayor of Tbilisi, losing to Georgian Dream’s Kakha Kaladze. 

Most recently, he made headlines for punching Georgian Dream’s parliamentary leader, Mamuka Mdinaradze, during parliament’s discussions of the foreign agent law. He was seen being detained by the police during the foreign agent law protests, in what critics believed to be a retaliatory move for attacking Mdinaradze.

Due to electoral regulations prohibiting the formation of electoral blocs, the parties are required to formally merge ahead of the October parliamentary elections.

Strong Georgia is one of the three main opposition alliances, alongside the UNM and Strategy Aghmashenebeli’s Unity to Save Georgia and the Coalition for Change, which brings together Ahali, Girchi — More Freedom, and Droa. Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia party has so far declined to join any of the opposition alliances.