United National Movement
| United National Movement | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
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| Party leader | Grigol Vashadze |
| Secretary General | Vano Merabishvili |
| Honorary Chairman | Mikheil Saakashvili |
| founding | October 2001 |
| Place of foundation | Tbilisi |
| Headquarters | Tbilisi |
| Alignment |
Center-right conservatism Economic liberalism |
| Colours) | Red and white |
| Parliament seats |
27/150 |
| International connections | International Democratic Union |
| Website | www.unm.ge |
The United National Movement ( Georgian ერთიანი ნაციონალური მოძრაობა / Ertiani Nazionaluri Modsraoba , ENM ) is a political party in Georgia . It is a center-right party that seeks liberal and democratic reforms in Georgia's political system as well as the country's accession to NATO and the European Union .
history
The ENM was founded in October 2001 by Mikheil Saakashvili , who also became its chairman. In April 2002 she joined forces with the Republican Party to form the National Movement - Democratic Front (EMDP) . The party successfully won the Tbilisi city council election in June 2002. In November 2003, it was a supporter of the Rose Revolution in Georgia.
On February 5, 2004, the EMDP joined forces with the United Democrats of the late Prime Minister Zurab Schwania , supporters of the Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze and some supporters of former President Sviad Gamsakhurdia , the Union of National Forces for the National Movement - Democrats (NMD) . The party has since resumed its original name, United National Movement , while the parliamentary group retained the name National Movement - Democrats (Georgian ნაციონალური მოძრაობა - დემოკრატები / Nazionaluri Modsraoba - Demokratebi ).
In the parliamentary elections on March 28, 2004, the party won 66.24% of the vote. In the Georgian parliament it was represented by 158 members of two parliamentary groups. The National Movement - Democrats group had 138 members and the constituency group affiliated with it 20 members. The party thus had a majority in the legislature. In Tbilisi City Council she occupied 34 of 37 seats.
In the parliamentary elections in May 2008 , the ENM was able to maintain its supremacy in parliament. The party won 59.5% of the vote, securing 120 of the 150 seats in parliament that were allocated by proportional representation. In the parliamentary elections in October 2012 , the ENM lost its majority to the Georgian Dream party alliance . The party slipped to 40.22% of the vote and occupied just 63 of the 150 seats in parliament. She was no longer involved in forming the government. Since then, your group has formed the parliamentary opposition . In the parliamentary elections in Georgia in 2016 , she got 27 of the 150 seats.
Principles and goals
The ENM sees itself as a liberal-democratic party. It demands drastic reforms against corruption as well as increased transparency and public scrutiny of the government. In her election manifesto of March 9, 2004, she called for an expansion of the welfare state , an increase in pensions and an improvement in the investment climate. In terms of foreign policy, the party aims to integrate Georgia into the Euro-Atlantic structures, improve relations with Russia and strengthen cooperation with the USA .
Party wing
The party's infrastructure is considered very strong. The party has received many new members. You could also rely on government resources in the election campaign. The “young wing” around the influential parliamentarian Giga Bokeria and the “ Schwania wing”, which consists of the supporters of the deceased prime minister, are considered important wings of the party .
The party leaders Saakashvili, Schwania and Burjanadze clashed over the list of candidates for the Georgian parliamentary elections in March 2004. The President of Parliament was dissatisfied with the list because she did not see her supporters adequately represented on it. They received only 20 of 130 places on the list. The supporters of Saakashvili occupied the majority of the places, followed by the supporters of Swania. After the process of the parliamentary elections in Georgia in 2008 was repeated, Burjanadze no longer stood as a parliamentary candidate.
Spin-offs
In the course of 2004 and 2005 there were repeated dissociations from the National Movement - Democrats. In June 2004 the "Republican Party" separated from the ENM. She ran for the regional elections in Ajaria with her own electoral list and later accused the party of electoral fraud . In November 2004 MPs Sviad Dsidsiguri, Koba Dawitashvili and Kacha Kukawa, supporters of former President Gamsakhurdia, left the ENM. They founded the "Georgian Conservative Party".
In October 2005, various MPs around the deputy chairman of the ENM group in the Georgian parliament, Dawit Zurabishvili , left the party and founded the opposition faction “Democratic Front” together with the members of the “Conservative Party”. They consider the pace of reform to be too slow and demand a "Georgia without remnants of Shevardnadze " . On September 25, 2007, ENM co-founder and former Interior and Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili announced the founding of the Movement for a United Georgia party and sharply criticized the policies of Saakashvili and the ENM.
International Relations
The ENM members in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe belong to the group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). The ENM MP Giga Bokeria is deputy chairman of the ALDE group. Since March 2007, the ENM has been examining cooperation and collaboration with the European People's Party . She has been an observer in her since 2008.
The party maintains close ties with the Ukrainian opposition party “ Our Ukraine ” ( Ukrainian Наша Україна / Nascha Ukrajina ). One of the NMD co-founders, Georgia's late Prime Minister Schwania, had raised donations from the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky for the campaign of the presidential candidate for “Our Ukraine”, Viktor Yushchenko , in the spring of 2003 .
literature
- Ghia Nodia, Álvaro Pinto Scholtbach: The Political Landscape of Georgia: Political Parties: Achievements, Challenges and Prospects . Eburon, Delft 2006, ISBN 90-5972-113-6
Web links
- United National Movement: Official Website (English, Georgian)
- Laurence Broers, Julian Broxup: London Information Network on Conflicts and State-Building (LINKS), Report, 2004 , Civil Georgia, March 9, 2004 (English, Georgian)
- Lincoln A. Mitchell: The Georgian Government's Goldilocks Problem , The Faster Times, Jan. 4, 2012
Individual evidence
- ^ The press : Opposition in Georgia threatens to boycott parliament on May 23, 2008.
- ↑ Parliamentary elections in Georgia: Pro-European party wins 115 seats , n-tv, October 31, 2016.
- ^ EPP / member parties