Former President Giorgi Margvelashvili joins the Strong Georgia alliance

The Lelo-led Strong Georgia alliance has announced that former Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili joined their coalition.

Lelo chair Mamuka Khazaradze announced that Margvelashvili joined their alliance at a pre-election event in Gori on Wednesday evening.

Margvelashvili was first reported to have been in talks to join Strong Georgia earlier in September, after Lelo’s secretary general, Irakli Kupradze, published a photo with the ex-president on Facebook.

‘There is only victory ahead,’ read the caption on Kupradze’s post. 

Giorgi Margvelashvili, then a member of the Georgian Dream party, was elected as the fourth president of Georgia in 2013. His term was marked by tensions and disagreements with his party, having vetoed key legislative amendments that would have given security agencies access to wiretapping devices.

Margvelashvili and Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of Georgian Dream, also disagreed over the use of the Presidential Palace built during the United National Movement’s rule.

After falling out with Georgian Dream, Margvelashvili often spoke out against the ruling party and attended anti-government demonstrations. Georgian Dream has also consistently criticised Margvelashvili for his anti-government stance.

Margvelashvili did not pursue an active career in politics following the end of his term as president.

Strong Georgia is fronted by TBC co-founder Mamuka Khazaradze and his Lelo party, Aleko Elisashvili’s Citizens party, Anna Dolidze’s For the People, and Freedom Square, a group formed earlier this year by Levan Tsutskiridze

For Georgia, an opposition party led by former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, was also in talks to join the opposition coalition for weeks, but the two groups were unable to reach an agreement.