Georgia’s pro-EU parties unite in bid to oust government

Six top opposition parties in Georgia have agreed to work together during nationwide elections in October to try to topple the ruling Georgian Dream party which they say has derailed the country’s bid to join the EU, Report informs referring to Politico.

The group vowed to “democratically liberate the country” and “bring Georgia back on the road of rapid integration towards the EU,” in a statement signed in Brussels and released on Tuesday.

Leaders representing the largest opposition party in parliament, the United National Movement, as well as the liberal Lelo, libertarian Girchi and center-right Ahali backed the declaration. However, some pro-EU opposition parties, including For Georgia and the European Socialists refused to sign the deal after weeks of fraught negotiations.

As part of the agreement, the signatories pledged to bring forward a strategy to campaign together, to avoid losing votes to each other in the October election, and to support the re-election of the current president, the anti-Georgian Dream Salome Zourabichvili. The statement also calls on Western countries to help ensure free and fair elections.

United National Movement leader Tina Bokuchava said the parties struck the deal “to defeat the pro-Russian government … [and] to save Georgian democracy.”