Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Monday named the reasons why, in her opinion, Mamuka Khazaradze and Giorgi Gakharia failed to unite their parties for the upcoming October elections.

Zourabichvili believes the failure stems from an existing circumstance, and from the past, “which weighs heavily on all political players in the nation.”

“I didn’t come here to gossip about who was to blame for the failure. It’s probably everyone’s fault, but also no one’s. It was more the fault of the circumstance, the past, which weighs heavily on nearly all political players in this nation, and the future, since there is always a fear of identity protection.

The two primary culprits in this situation are: on the one hand, a political culture that has not yet developed; a culture of finding compromises since it is still considered that he who compromises is weaker.

In this scenario, the second culprit is something that we all suffer from: mistrust and suspicion, fuelled by a variety of conspiracy theories.

This environment significantly impedes the search for the required consensus and compromises that will shape the ultimate conclusion of the negotiations.

However, this process yielded its results. On the good side, attitudes between the parties have shifted, and future collaboration will be much simpler,” the President stated.