State for the People ( ka, სახელმწიფო ხალხისთვის, tr) was a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. It was founded by the Georgian operatic bass

Paata Burchuladze Paata Burchuladze ( ka, პაატა ბურჭულაძე; born 12 February 1955) is a Georgian operatic bass and civil activist. After his debut in his native Tbilisi in 1976, he embarked on a 35-year-long musical career during which ...

in 2016 participating in the election held the same year in a

bloc Bloc may refer to: Government and politics * Political bloc, a coalition of political parties * Trade bloc, a type of intergovernmental agreement * Voting bloc, a group of voters voting together * Black bloc, a tactic used by protesters who wear ...

of the same name. The coalition failed to cross 5% after which Burchuladze left the party, with Nika Machutadze becoming the chairman. Subsequently, State for the People became a part of the

Strength is in Unity United National Movement – United Opposition "Strength is in Unity" Faction was a List of political parties in Georgia (country), politician coalition and a Parliament of Georgia, parliamentary faction in Georgia (country), Georgia. It was led ...

backing

Grigol Vashadze Grigol Vashadze ( ka, გრიგოლ ვაშაძე, also transliterated as Gregory Vashadze) (born July 19, 1958) is a Georgian politician, diplomat and a former member of the Cabinet of Georgia in the capacity of the Minister for Cultu ...

's candidacy for the 2018 presidential election. In

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

the party elected 3 MPs through the bloc's electoral list. Since it has been in opposition to the third

Georgian Dream Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia (GD), also colloquially known as the Kotsebi, is a Conservatism, conservative and populism, populist List of political parties in Georgia (country), political party in Georgia (country), Georgia, which has ...

government. In 2023, the party left the SIU bloc and in 2024 it disbanded gifting its party to

Ahali Ahali (; ) is a liberal, pro-European political party in Georgia. It was founded in 2024 by Nika Melia, former chairman of the United National Movement, and Nika Gvaramia, former CEO of the Rustavi 2 TV channel and Mtavari Arkhi TV channel. It ...

History

State for the People Coalition

In the spring of 2016, ahead of the year’s parliamentary election,

, a world-renowned operatic bass also known for his charity work, announced his entrance into politics. The first party congress of State for the People was held on 28 May, with the party being registered on 29 June. On 18 August, it formed the

State for the People State for the People ( ka, სახელმწიფო ხალხისთვის, tr) was a conservative political party in Georgia. It was founded by the Georgian operatic bass Paata Burchuladze in 2016 participating in the election he ...

political coalition with three pro-Western parties

New Rights Party The New Rights Party (NRP) ( ka, ახალი მემარჯვენეები, tr), also translated as New Conservative Party (NCP), was a political party in Georgia. It was an associate member of the International Democrat Union and ...

New Political Centre - Girchi New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 19 ...

, and

New Georgia New Georgia, with an area of , is the largest of the islands in Western Province (Solomon Islands), Western Province, Solomon Islands, and the List of islands by area, 203rd-largest island in the world. Since July 1978, the island has been par ...

. The coalition was plagued by infighting from the start with several politicians from State for the People party deciding to leave the party due to its alliance with former

United National Movement United National Movement (UNM; ka, ერთიანი ნაციონალური მოძრაობა, tr) also colloquially known as the Natsebi is a liberal conservative political party in Georgia. Tina Bokuchava serves as the p ...

lawmakers. Burchuladze claimed this was the result of "huge pressure" from the State Security Service. Khatuna Lagazidze, one of the politicians who left the State for the People party, asked the government for protection citing the threats she received from the party. 10 days before the election, the coalition experienced its largest schism with NPC – Girchi formally quitting the bloc with its leader

Zurab Japaridze Zurab Girchi Japaridze ( ka, ზურაბ გირჩი ჯაფარიძე; born 1 January 1976) is a Georgian politician and co-founder of a libertarian party called Girchi. On 26 December 2020 he founded a new political party, Gir ...

accusing the alliance of "blackmailing" the party. The coalition went on to win 3.45% of the vote, finishing sixth and below the 5% threshold required to enter the parliament. It dissolved soon after. Burchuladze subsequently left the party and politics with Nika Machutadze, a 24-year-old activist, becoming its new chair.

Strength is in Unity coalition

Ahead of the 2018 presidential election, State for the People, along with eight other opposition parties, joined the UNM-led

coalition. The alliance backed

, a former Foreign Minister from UNM, as its presidential candidate. Despite Vashadze’s strong second place finish in the first round of voting, he ended up losing in a landslide in the runoff to

backed independent candidate

Salome Zourabichvili Salomé Nino Zourabichvili (born 18March 1952) is a French-born Georgian politician, former diplomat, and the fifth president of Georgia – the first female to be elected as president in the country's history. As a result of the constitutiona ...

. The loss has been attributed to a government supported scheme where

Bidzina Ivanishvili Bidzina Ivanishvili (; born 18 February 1956), also known as Boris Grigoryevich Ivanishvili, is a French-Georgian businessman, politician and billionaire oligarch. He is founder and the leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party and has ruled G ...

, Georgian Dream's de facto leader, covered the debts of 600,000 Georgians with his charity, giving Zourabichvili a massive boost. It has been considered "an unprecedented case of vote-bribing". On September 15, ahead of the 2020 parliamentary election, five political formally recreated the Strength is in Unity coalition. The coalition's electoral list was led by actor and singer

Vakhtang Kikabidze Vakhtang Konstantines dze Kikabidze ( ka, ვახტანგ კონსტანტინეს ძე კიკაბიძე; 19 July 1938 – 15 January 2023), also known as Buba ( ka, ბუბა) was a Soviet and Georgian actor, sing ...

with its Prime Ministerial candidate being ex-President from UNM

Mikheil Saakashvili Mikheil "Misha" Saakashvili (born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist. He was the third president of Georgia for two consecutive terms from 25 January 2004 to 17 November 2013. He is the founder and former chair ...

. The bloc received 27.1% of the vote finishing second behind Georgian Dream and getting 36 seats. Out of the 36 seats 3 were allocated to State for the People. State for the People, along with other members of the Strength is in Unity coalition, refused to recognize the election results as legitimate and boycotted the parliament. It backed negotiations with Georgian Dream facilitated by Western powers, however, Strength is in Unity coalition in the end did not sign the 19 April deal. Nevertheless, on 30 May 2021 the alliance entered the parliament.

Nato Chkheidze Nato Chkheidze ( Georgian: ნატო ჩხეიძე, born on June 1, 1960) is a Georgian businesswoman and politician, co-founder of the Omega Group with her husband Zaza Okuashvili, and a member of Parliament in 1999-2004 and since 2020. ...

from the party was elected as faction's one of the two deputy chairs. On 17 May 2023, State for the People halted cooperation with the Strength is in Unity coalition after endorsing the ruling party's preferred candidates to Georgia's High Council of Justice. As a result,

Rostom Chkheidze Rostom Chkheidze ( Georgian: როსტომ ჩხეიძე, born on April 1, 1959) is a Georgian author, academician and politician who has served in the Parliament of Georgia since 2020. Son of the author Otar Chkheidze and brother of b ...

, Nika Machutadze left the faction. On 16 July 2024, State for the People gifted its party to two opposition figures

Nika Gvaramia Nika Gvaramia ( ka, ნიკა გვარამია; born June 29, 1976) is a Georgian lawyer, media entrepreneur, public figure, who had held posts of Minister of Justice and Minister of Education and Science. He was the Director General ...

and

Nika Melia Nikanor "Nika" Melia ( ka, ნიკანორ „ნიკა“ მელია; born 21 December 1979) is a Georgian politician, former chairman of the United National Movement party and former member of Parliament of Georgia. He was a memb ...

who subsequently renamed it to

. Ahali is part of Coalition for Change political alliance for the same year's

parliamentary election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

Ideology

State for the People's ideology has been described as

Christian democracy Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

and

conservatism Conservatism is a Philosophy of culture, cultural, Social philosophy, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, Convention (norm), customs, and Value (ethics and social science ...

, with

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

and

populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

leanings and

anti-establishment An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958 by the British magazine ''New Statesman'' ...

tone. It is placed on the

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

of the political spectrum with its foreign policy being described as

pro-Europeanism Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...

. However, some analysts have criticized the party for lacking a consistent message, platform, and ideology.

Electoral performance

Parliamentary election

Local election

References

External links

Official Facebook page
{{Georgian political parties 2016 establishments in Georgia (country) Christian democratic parties in Asia Christian democratic parties in Europe Conservative parties in Georgia (country) Centre-right parties in Georgia (country) Political parties established in 2016 Pro-European political parties in Georgia (country)