ABOUT THE PARTY

The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia (registered short name - the Georgian Patriots) is a political party, founded on December 19, 2012. The state registration of the party became official on January 22, 2013.

THE OFFICIAL STATUS OF THE PARTY
ASSIGNED BY THE STATE

The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia has the official status of a qualified political party, as assigned by the state. In Georgia, such a status is assigned only to those political parties, which succeeded to surpass a 4-percent threshold in municipal or parliamentary elections, and have municipal or parliamentary elected deputies.

After the party’s state registration in the beginning of 2013, the municipal elections in Georgia were held just once, in the summer of 2014. And due to the fact that the party was still in its formative stage, the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia was able to field candidates for those elections in 41 municipal districts out of 63 districts of Georgia. These 41 districts are not densely populated, and only half of the voters of Georgia live in these districts, while the other part of voters live in 22 districts, where the party didn’t field its candidates. Summarily in all the districts, where the party’s candidates competed, the party won 11.8% of the votes. However, when this figure was divided into all districts, including those in which the party was unable to participate, the final average percentage of the party across the country came to 4.7% of the votes. Nevertheless, this result enabled the party to surpass the electoral threshold and acquire the official status of a qualified political party, and today the party has 44 municipal deputies in 28 districts over the country.
TASKS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PARTY

As it’s officially declared in the charter of the party, the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia is a center-right political party, which aims to promote in society moderate conservative ideology, Georgian spirit, culture and traditions, as well as democratic values.

It is also declared in the charter of the party and in its official program that the party stands for the formation of a post-industrial economy, based on the knowledge industry, as well as an open democratic society, grounded in human and general Christian values.

The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia strongly supports the full European integration of Georgia, including the political, economic, social, and cultural spheres. However, at the same time the party believes that the Georgian national and cultural values should be completely preserved and protected in the process of the European integration.
FOUNDERS OF THE PARTY

The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia was founded by the leaders of the Resistance Movement, as well as by different public figures and former members of the Objective Media Union.

1. David Tarkhan-Mouravi, the Leader and the Chairman of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia, as well as the Leader of the All-Georgian Assembly of Princes and Nobles; former Head of the Resistance Movement, which played a decisive role in the downfall of Saakashvili’s tyrannical regime, a Nominee for the Noble Peace Prize 2013;

2. Irma Inashvili, the General Secretary of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia and one of its leaders, former Head of the Objective Media Union, a Nominee for the Noble Peace Prize 2013;

3. Ada Marshania, the Political Secretary of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia for Ideology Issues and one of its leaders, a former Deputy of three Convocations of the Parliament of Georgia, and currently a Deputy of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia;

4. Giorgi Lomia, the Political Secretary of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia for Security Issues and one of its leaders, the Chairman of the League of Sportsmen of Georgia, the Vice-President of the Georgian Seibukai Kyokushin Karate Federation, the world record breaker in Tameshiwari (broke 6 tied together baseball bats with a single kick), and a Nominee for the Noble Peace Prize 2013;

5. Archil Lekishvili, a musician, saxophonist, lecturer, a Laureate of the 7th Trans-Caucasian Music Competition, former Chairman of the Labor Union of the Tbilisi Center for Music and Culture, and currently the Political Secretary of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia for Regional Relations Issues;

6. Vazha Otarashvili, a well-known Georgian poet and writer, former Deputy Chairman and currently a Member of the Georgian Union of Writers, as well as the Political Secretary of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia for Cultural and Educational Issues and one of its leaders;/p>

7. Regan Teloyan, the Chairman of the Georgian Women’s Inter-Ethnic Coordinating Council, former Special Envoy of the Public Defender of Georgia for National Minority Issues, and currently the Political Secretary of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia for National Minority Issues;

8. David Tedoradze, a well-known Georgian poet and writer, the Chairman of Adjara Union of Writers and a Member of the Board of the Georgian Union of Writers, as well as the Head of Adjara Regional Branch of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia and one of the leaders of the party;

9. Levan Tediashvili, the world-renowned Georgian wrestler, a two-time Olympic Champion and four-time World Champion in Freestyle Wrestling, as well as the World Champion and three-time European Champion in Sambo Wrestling, currently a member and one of the leaders of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia.

10. Erekle Saghliani, a well-known Georgian poet, writer, publicist, reciter, actor, and public figure, a member and one of the leaders of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia;

11. Ruvim Roman Fin, former Director of the Canadian Institute for the Study of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, dissident and political prisoner of Soviet times, and a three-time Nominee for the Nobel Prize: in 2011 and 2012 for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and in 2014 for the Nobel Peace Prize. Roman Fin devoted his whole life to struggle for justice, human rights and peace until his death in 2015. He was the member and one of the leaders of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia.

A bit later the party was also joined by Emzar Kvitsiani, former Georgian Military Commander and Warlord of the Kodori Valley; George Maghlakelidze, Doctor of Economic Sciences, a former program coordinator of the World Bank of Georgia and different international financial institutions of Georgia, and many other noted people.

POSITIONING OF THE PARTY IN THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM OF GEORGIA

The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia is positioning itself as the largest and strongest opposition party in Georgia. Over the 3 years of its existence, the party organized and held multiple large-scale protest actions. In December 2014, more than 12,000 people participated in the party’s rally in Batumi. In January 2015, the party gathered 25,000 protesters during its demonstration in Tbilisi, and in the same city in November 2015, the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia gathered more than 18,550 people during its rally against the massive electoral fraud in the Sagarejo district. At the same time to support the protest against the gross electoral fraud, the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia began a hunger strike, which lasted for 16 days with 103 people taking part in this protest action. The protesters on hunger strike stayed vigilantly under an open sky along with the leaders of the party.

Currently the party is preparing for the Parliamentary Elections, which will be held in Georgia in October 2016. These will be the first parliamentary elections in the history of the party’s existence. According to the results of the "EPN Research" company, the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia is the major opposition force in the country with 23% of the respondents stating that in the upcoming Parliamentary Elections they will vote for the party. The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia took second place in the survey after the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, which was named by 31% of the respondents. "EPN Research" company specializes in public opinion studies and has recently conducted a survey in large cities and towns of Georgia with the aim to identify what political parties the Georgian population prefers, and whom they are going to vote for in the Parliamentary Elections 2016.

Another simple fact bears witness to the growing indications of the party’s popularity. On January 31, 2016, the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia held a Congress, where it invited 1,200 party delegates, which in itself is a very big figure for Georgia. However, more than 4,500 people attended the Congress on their own. And since the space reserved for the venue, the Courtyard by Marriott Tbilisi, was not enough to accommodate such a large number of people, the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia and the participants had to move to the nearby Pushkin Park on Freedom Square, where the party continued its Congress under the open sky.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE PARTY

The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia has its representative offices in all large cities and towns of Georgia with headquarters, located in the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, at the Cinema House near the Rustaveli Metro.