Strength Is in Unity

The Strength Is in Unity coalition was formed on July 18, 2018 ahead of that year's presidential election with the goal of uniting the forces of small political parties opposed to the Georgian Dream-led government to back a single presidential candidate. The coalition at the time nominated Grigol Vashadze, a former Foreign Minister and chairman of the United National Movement (UNM), the largest opposition-leaning political party in Georgia affiliated with former President Mikheil Saakashvili.

When the coalition was formed, Vashadze called it "the first step to achieving national consensus".[1] In 2018, the coalition brought together ten parties, led by UNM, including For a New Georgia, Serve Georgia, the National Democratic Party (NDP), the Christian Conservative Party, the Civil Alliance for Freedom, New Georgia (NG), Georgia Among Leaders, and the European Democrats. UNM was the only one from the group to have elected leaders in Parliament, while media observers regularly called the other organizations "satellites" of UNM.[2] Due to coalition being lesser known among the general public than its leading party, Vashadze was registered in the election as the United National Movement candidate. The coalition failed to bring on board other opposition parties, including the Labor Party, Democratic Movement-United Georgia, and Girchi, which all fielded their own presidential candidates.

The group was considered to be a "big tent" organization, described by its leaders as "united behind one common goal, a strong and free Georgia". Grigol Vashadze, whose campaign was chaired by NG's Giorgi Vashadze, promised to reduce bureaucracy and took strong stance against the legalization of cannabis.[3] He would later be endorsed by European Georgia and the Republican Party during the runoffs, although both parties refused to formally join the coalition at the time.[4] Though Vashadze eventually lost the presidential race, the Strength Is in Unity coalition remained active as a platform to run candidates in further elections and in May 2019, nominated Sandra Roelofs (UNM) as a candidate for Mayor of the Zugdidi Municipality.

On December 22, 2019, the coalition's unity suffered its first setback with the departure of the New Rights Party, itself a post-electoral member, which merged with the new Lelo for Georgia political party.

By 2020, the SIU coalition had been informally disbanded as political parties sought independent paths and electoral strategies. The 2019-2020 large-scale demonstrations, followed by the failure by Parliament to pass a compromise constitutional amendment on electoral reform in November 2019 and the March 8, 2020 agreement between Georgian Dream and the opposition each contributed to the creation of a negotiation format amongst opposition parties that set them apart, while leaving the smallest political parties in SIU with little to no funding, press coverage or membership. By the March 8 Agreement, five parties had remained in the coalition: UNM, New Georgia, Law and Justice (a scion of New Georgia), the European Democrats, and the Christian Conservative Party.

The coalition experienced its largest setback in July 2020 after the group rejected the prime ministerial candidacy of Giorgi Vashadze.[5] The latter's New Georgia and Tamar Charkviani's Law and Justice both left to form their own electoral bloc, Strategy Aghmashenebeli.[6] Democratic Movement-United Georgia, a party led by former Speaker Nino Burjanadze, agreed to not field any candidate against the SIU coalition, although it ran its own electoral list and refused to formally join the group.[7] The National Democratic Party and CCP both fielded their own electoral lists, while also joining their forces with the coalition.

The SIU bloc continuously polled higher than any other opposition group and other parties sought a certain level of cooperation to avoid competition. In August, 30 political parties, including the SIU members, signed an agreement to field joint candidates in the various majoritarian districts of Tbilisi, although SIU would break the agreement by nominating Khatia Dekanoidze to run in the Isani Majoritarian District, where other parties had already nominated Giorgi Vashadze. Meanwhile, SIU's other nominees in Tbilisi (Nika Melia in Gldani and Levan Khabeishvili in Samgori) were endorsed by the 30-party group.

On 7 September, Strength Is in Unity nominated former President Mikheil Saakashvili as its nominee for Prime Minister of Georgia, a controversial choice for some as the UNM leader was at the time in exile in Ukraine and had been convicted in absentia by Georgian courts in 2018.[8] Nonetheless, five political parties came together on 15 September and signed an agreement to formally recreate the SIU coalition: UNM, Progress and Freedom (PF), State for the People (SFP), and the Republican Party. The latter issued a statement explaining its decision to join the coalition by its goal of "defeating Bidzina Ivanishvili". The coalition's electoral list was led by singer Vakhtang Kikabidze and its top 30 candidates featured Grigol Vashadze, two nominees of the Republican Party, three nominees of State for the People, three nominees of Progress and Freedom, and Bachuki Kardava (chairman of the NDP).[9] Out of 30 majoritarian districts, four SIU nominees were members of Progress and Freedom, while the other 26 were members of UNM.[10]

The SIU won 27.1% in the parliamentary election,[11] winning 36 seats in the national legislature and finishing second, behind Georgian Dream. In Adjara, it won 34% and was the only opposition group to win seats in the autonomous republic's legislature.[12] However, SIU joined other political parties in refusing to recognize the electoral results after allegations of massive voter fraud surfaced, boycotting majoritarian runoffs and the seats they had won in Parliament and the Supreme Council of Adjara (both the Republican Party and SFP individually made similar declarations prior).[13] However, one of its elected members in Adjara from the Republican Party broke the boycott and entered the Supreme Council on 25 December.[14]

In the aftermath of the election and the ensuing political crisis, the SIU backed negotiations with Georgian Dream facilitated by Western powers, along with European Georgia, Lelo for Georgia, Strategy Aghmashenebeli, Girchi-More Freedom, and the Labor Party.[15] While SIU MPs formally renounced their mandates, Parliament formally rejected their suspension on February 2, which allowed for negotiations to continue,[16] although the crisis worsened when authorities arrested UNM Chairman and coalition de facto leader Nika Melia on 28 February. On March 1, 2021, EU Council President Charles Michel launched new negotiations between Georgian Dream and the opposition to put an end to the political crisis and SIU was represented in those talks by Salome Samadashvili and Akaki Minashvili of UNM and Khatuna Samnidze of the Republican Party.[17] The sides reached an agreement on April 19, although SIU refused to sign the deal. This refusal proved to be controversial and led to the Republican Party leaving the coalition, along with Grigol Vashadze and Salome Samadashvili, who each signed the agreement independently.[18]

When the Strength Is in Unity parliamentary faction was set up on May 31, 2021, it included 32 MPs. Since then, seven members have left, either resigning from Parliament or leaving the faction to join another parliamentary group, and one has died:

• Nika Melia (left on October 5, 2021), resigned his parliamentary mandate;
• Dilar Khabuliani (left on December 14, 2021), joined the Lelo for Georgia parliamentary faction;
• Zaal Udumashvili (left on June 9, 2022), resigned his parliamentary mandate;
• Levan Varshalomidze (left on September 6, 2022), resigned his parliamentary mandate;
• Nona Mamulashvili (left on November 16, 2022), resigned her parliamentary mandate;
• Vakhtang Kikabidze, passed away on January 15, 2023;
• Roman Gotsiridze (left on February 17, 2023), became an independent MP;
• Khatia Dekanoidze (left on March 25, 2023), became an independent MP.