Giorgi Gakharia, the founder of the party For Georgia and former Prime Minister, stated that one of the conditions set by Mamuka Khazaradze, the leader of the coalition Strong Georgia and chairman of Lelo, during the negotiations for unification was that Gakharia himself should not be included on the electoral list.
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"I'll be honest: one of the points was, for example, 'Gakharia should not be on the list.' Although the President defended me, I want to say that the issue was of such magnitude and importance that I agreed to it.
I will tell you one thing: we all need to understand very well that I am not alone. I never say that I am the only party for Georgia. I have a huge team behind me. If you look closely, unlike many other parties, our team is very stable. These people have been working together for about ten years. Of course, it took a lot of effort; I couldn't convince many. When we talked, we reached a point where I was speaking to these friends, and I told them that they might have to go on a list where I can't be. Many refused, and some were against it," said Gakharia at the press conference held today.
Mamuka Khazaradze responded to Giorgi Gakharia's statement. According to Khazaradze, his proposal for Gakharia not to be on the list stemmed from their "past of conflict" and was meant to support the youth.
"However, later I realized, during yesterday's meeting, that he may have thought someone wanted to remove him from politics. This is not the case. I told him that, yes, as a compromise, I am ready to change this clause, and I confirmed yesterday that if he wants to be on the list, he should be. Accordingly, I am also with him," Khazaradze said.
The leader of the For Georgia party outlined three principles for starting a new stage of negotiations with the Strong Georgia coalition. These are the creation of a neutral platform, the fair and parity principle of decision-making, and the inadmissibility of a coalition with both Georgian Dream and National Movement. As Gakharia stated, the stage of negotiations conducted under "old principles" is over, and if Lelo is ready to discuss the three principles, his party will sign any document.
