Chairperson Giorgi Kvirikashvili Headquarters Tbilisi, Georgia | Founder Bidzina Ivanishvili Political position Centre-left | |
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Founded April 21, 2012; 4 years ago (2012-04-21) Ideology Big tent
Pro-Europeanism | ||
Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia (Georgian: ქართული ოცნება – დემოკრატიული საქართველო, K’art’uli ots’neba – demokratiuli Sak’art’velo) is the main center-left party in Georgia. The party was established on 19 April 2012 by the billionaire businessman and politician Bidzina Ivanishvili. It is the leading party of the six-party Georgian Dream political coalition which won the 2012 parliamentary election. The political party Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia currently has 48 seats in the Georgian Parliament. The Georgian Dream political coalition currently has 115 seats in the 150-seat Georgian parliament.
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History
The party evolved from the public movement Georgian Dream, launched by Ivanishvili as a platform for his political activities in December 2011. Since Ivanishvili was not a Georgian citizen at the moment of the party's inaugural session, the lawyer Manana Kobakhidze was elected as an interim, nominal chairman of the Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia. The party also includes several notable Georgians such as the politician Sozar Subari, former diplomat Tedo Japaridze, chess grandmaster Zurab Azmaiparashvili, security commentator Irakli Sesiashvili, writer Guram Odisharia and famed footballer Kakha Kaladze.
The party successfully challenged the ruling United National Movement (UMN) in the 2012 parliamentary election. It won this election in coalition with six other opposition parties, with 54.97% of the vote, winning 85 seats in parliament. The governing UMN took 40.34%. President Mikheil Saakashvili conceded that his party lost, and pledged to support the constitutional process of forming a new government.
Georgian Dream coalition
The Georgian Dream coalition, centered by Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia party, comprised initially six political parties of diverse ideological orientations. It includes pro-market and pro-western liberals, as well as radical nationalists with xenophobic rhetoric, and former representatives of the Shevardnadze administration who were disempowered during the Rose Revolution of 2003. The name of the alliance is inspired by a rap song by Ivanishvili's son Bera.