Aleksandre Rakviashvili, one of the leaders of the Girchi party, spoke on GPB’s First Channel program Elections 2024 about the problematic nature of the Charter (Georgian Charter initiated by President Salome Zourabichvili).

“The main issue with the Charter was that it wasn’t a document created through public discussions,” Rakviashvili stated.

“Following the old tradition, the President essentially composed this document unilaterally, despite having some preliminary communication with various parties, including us. What emerged was a completely inadequate text that could have been a good starting point for discussion. In reality, it’s unsuitable as a commitment. I don’t believe any political party will implement the prime minister appointment section unless it’s their candidate. I don’t believe the President has the right to speak about NBG independence when all council members she considers problematic were actually appointed by her, and she has never explained how or why she appointed these people. When discussing judicial reform, the member of the Justice Council appointed under the President’s quota was effectively a member of the judicial clan, and it’s unclear how the President appointed them and what consultations she had with the Georgian Dream. In truth, there’s a great deal of insincerity in this document, and naturally, we couldn’t commit to such a document.”

According to Rakviashvili, Girchi believes they must first be honest with their voters and maintain their principles.

“I couldn’t tell my voters, ‘Look, this is some document that respects no one. We just signed it because it became fashionable at some point and nobody will implement it anyway.’ If we were to sign it, we would implement it, but an inadequate document cannot be implemented. The rest of the political spectrum, as you know, typically doesn’t show much respect for their words and knows they can easily blame the other side if needed. That’s why we rarely have anything in common with those people,” Rakviashvili stated.

When asked by the host about potential coalition partners if Girchi receives mandates and what would be their red lines for cooperation, Aleksandre Rakviashvili stated that due to the past actions of people in the political spectrum, Girchi has no great sympathies for anyone on an individual level. However, they would form a coalition with those who would follow their ideas and positions to achieve political goals.

Rakviashvili also outlined Girchi’s priorities: “Distribution of state-owned property, lands, forests, state companies, and other assets to the people to make the country’s resources belong to citizens; distributing initial privatization money to everyone and enriching people through these steps; establishing universal basic income by eliminating social programs and bloated bureaucracy to defeat extreme poverty; giving public servants opportunities to adapt to the private sector; allowing trade in dollars, euros, and other currencies, giving people the choice to be less dependent on the Georgian lari; receiving salaries and taking loans in other currencies to protect people from Georgian lari devaluation; reforming the criminal code; ending one-person rule, and so on,” declared Aleksandre Rakviashvili.