Free Democrats (Georgia)

This article is about the political party in Georgia. For other political parties with the same name, see Free Democrats.

Free Democrats
თავისუფალი დემოკრატები
ChairmanTamar Kekenadze
Secretary-GeneralEmzar Kakulia
FounderIrakli Alasania
Founded16 July 2009
Registered21 August 2009
HeadquartersTbilisi
IdeologyLiberalism[4]
Pro-Europeanism[7]
Political positionCentre[6] to centre-left[8]
National affiliationAlliance for Georgia (2009–2010)
Georgian Dream (2012–2014)
Third Force (2021)
European affiliationAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (affiliate)[1]
Colors  Blue and   Red
Seats in Parliament
0 / 150
Website
fd.ge

Free Democrats (Georgian: თავისუფალი დემოკრატები, romanized: tavisupali demok'rat'ebi), previously known as Our Georgia – Free Democrats is a liberal and pro-Western political party in Georgia.[5] It was founded by Irakli Alasania, Georgia's former envoy to the United Nations, on 16 July 2009.[9] Tamar Kekenadze serves as the party's current chairman.[10]

The party was formed in opposition to the government led by Mikheil Saakashvili and his United National Movement (UNM) party.[9] From 2012 to 2014 it was a part of the Georgian Dream coalition that unseated the UNM government from power.[11] In 2016 it ran independently of the coalition barely missing the 5% threshold needed to enter the parliament.[12] Ever since the party has been in the extraparliamentary opposition.

  1. ^ a b c "ALDE Member Parties". aldeparty.eu.
  2. ^ Jelger Groeneveld (11 September 2024). "2024 Elections Parliament of Georgia". East Watch.
  3. ^ a b Carles Jovaní (6 October 2016). "Has democracy become routine in Georgia? A competitive parliamentary election suggests so". Commonspace.eu.
  4. ^ [1][2][3]
  5. ^ a b "Georgia's Free Democrats announces party list ahead of October elections". Common Space. 18 July 2016.
  6. ^ a b Sandro Tabatadze (May 2022). "Party-Based Euroscepticism: The Case of Georgia". Demokratizatsiya: 11.
  7. ^ [1][5][6][3]
  8. ^ "Georgia's Political Landscape". Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. 18 October 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Georgian Opposition Leader Alasania Forms New Party". Radio Free Europe. 17 July 2009.
  10. ^ "პოლიტიკური პარტიების რეესტრი". National Agency of Public Registry of Ministry of Justice of Georgia.
  11. ^ "Georgian Party Leaves Coalition Government as Row Deepens". Bloomberg.com. 4 November 2014.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference tab was invoked but never defined (see the help page).