Alliance of Patriots of Georgia

Alliance of Patriots of Georgia (საქართველოს პატრიოტთა ალიანსი, APG) is a right-wing populist and anti-Western political party in Georgia. It was founded in 2012 by leaders from the Resistance Movement, which opposed the pro-Western government of Mikheil Saakashvili. Davit Tarkhan Mouravi has served as the party's chairman, while Irma Inashvili serves as its secretary general.

Being on the left of Georgian politics on economic policy, its social views are predominantly right-wing. The party has been widely described as pro-Russian and anti-Turkish, categorizations it rejects in favor of the label "pro-Georgian". Moreover, the party has been accused of being financed by Kremlin, an accusation it denies.

History


Alliance of Patriots has its origins in the Resistance Movement, a group fiercely critical of the former ruling party, the United National Movement. The party was founded in December 2012, by Soso Manjavidze, Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi, and Irma Inashvili. Giorgi Lomia has served as its political secretary. The party leadership also included former warlord Emzar Kvitsiani, a figure that has attracted significant controversy.

In the 2014 local elections, it gained an aggregate nationwide vote of 4.7%, exceeding the 4% threshold required for seats allocated to proportional representation in the local councils of 30 out of 47 municipalities, including Tbilisi. Inashvili, the mayoral candidate in Tbilisi, finished fourth while the party qualified for the run-off elections against Georgian Dream candidates in the cities of Poti and Ozurgeti.

In June 2016, the party formed a bloc with five other parties (Free Georgia, led by Kakha Kukava; Tavisupleba, led by Konstantine Gamsakhurdia; Union of Georgian Traditionalists, led by Akaki Asatiani; New Christian-Democrats, led by Gocha Jojua, and Political Movement of Law Enforcement and Armed Forces Veterans) ahead of the 2016 parliamentary election. It finished in the 3rd place and just passed the electoral threshold of 5% required to enter the parliament. During the 9th Parliamentary Convocation one MP from the party defected and sat as an independent, however, the party was joined by 2 MPs, who broke off from the Georgian Dream. In the 2017 local elections the party's vote share increased to 6.56% and it managed to elect 90 Councilors.

In October 2020, ahead of the parliamentary election, Facebook removed a network of fake accounts related to Alliance of Patriots spreading anti-Western propaganda and disinformation. In the election, Alliance of Patriots’ vote share dropped to 3.14%, but with the 5% barrier lowered to 1%, it did manage to elect 4 deputies through proportional representation. However, the party along with the rest of the opposition claimed that the results were fabricated and therefore refused to enter the parliament.



Irma Inashvili, Gocha Tevdoradze, and Giorgi Lomia suspended their MP status, however, the party as a whole did not cancel the entire party list, which allowed Avtandil Enukidze, Davit Zilpimiani, Gela Mikadze, and Pridon Injia to keep their mandates and enter the parliament. They soon left Alliance of Patriots and established their own party, European Socialists, formally rejecting their former party's Euroscepticism and support for military neutrality declaring a Euro-Atlantic agenda. Alliance of Patriots has referred to the move "betrayal" and described their name as "cynical", stating that a party of "4 millionaires can not be socialist". Amid this chaos, the party achieved its lowest result yet losing 85 out of 90 local councilors and falling to just 1.46% in 2021 local elections.

In June 2024, Alt-Info an anti-Western far-right movement, announced they would run in the parliamentary election through the electoral list of the Alliance of Patriots after their party Conservative Movement as well as Georgian Idea, another far-right party whom they had reached an agreement with to run on their list, were deregistered and effectively banned.

Ideology
Despite Alliance of Patriots positioning itself as a moderate conservative party, it is frequently categorized as a radical far-right movement. Analysts have referred to the party as illiberal, anti-liberal, ultraconservative, and ultranationalist. Populism is widely attributed to the group, with it being categorized as Right-wing populist, populist-conservative or illiberal populist. The party has regularly been described as anti-Western, Eurosceptic and pro-Russia. However, the party's official stance is that it supports military neutrality and a start of a dialogue with Russia, explicitly ruling out NATO membership while not rejecting European Union integration.

The party has declared its aim to become a "third force" in Georgian politics. It has been critical of both the Georgian Dream and the United National Movement, two dominant political parties, describing them as being part of the same "corrupt elite", however, its criticism mainly focuses on the United National Movement, while denouncing the Georgian Dream government for not dealing with the United National Movement harsher for the alleged crimes the party committed during its rule before Georgian Dream took over in 2012. Even in later years, when the Alliance of Patriots grew more critical of the Georgian Dream and accused it of rigging the 2020 Georgian parliamentary election, the United National Movement still remained its archenemy. At several times the Alliance of Patriots sought to initiate the process of banning the United National Movement, which it described as running a "criminal regime" from 2003 to 2012.

Economic policy
Despite being a broadly right-wing party, the economic policy of Alliance of Patriots is on the left of Georgian politics. The party program has included various left-wing pledges such as increasing pensions and the establishment of free municipal clinics.

Social policy
The party's social rhetoric puts an emphasis on preserving religious and cultural identity as well as protecting the nation and its traditions from external threats. It disavows liberal values and has been accused of weaponizing xenophobia as well as homophobia and "using religion as a shield". Over the years it has organized protests for various different social causes, which have been criticized for their "destructive" nature.

The party has been accused of harboring anti-Turkish and anti-Azerbaijani sentiment and refueling historic grievances to gain the support of voters. It has campaigned against the building of mosques in Adjara, with “Protect Adjara” being one of the major slogans, warning of a growing Turkish influence. Additionally, the banners used in the protests showed Adjara as being occupied no different from Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Furthermore, The party has made xenophobic statements towards Azerbaijanis, particularly during “Protect Gareji” protests.

Foreign policy
Alliance of Patriots supports military neutrality, rejects the possibility of NATO membership, and welcomes warmer relations with Russia. The party’s stance towards the EU has been described as soft Eurosceptic with some of its members even publicly supporting the country’s membership bid.

The 2016 party manifesto officially declared pragmatic support for EU integration. However, analysts have noted a difference between what's officially stated in the party platform and the rhetoric used by party leaders, with them regularly criticizing the organization. The party leaders additionally question whether Georgia’s EU aspirations are worth the price the country pays in terms of alienating its northern neighbor.

According to the party, joining NATO would make it impossible to normalize relations with the Russian Federation to solve disputes over Georgia's separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions and restore Georgia's territorial integrity. It emphasizes the low likelihood of the country’s NATO bid due to the large number of skeptical states. The party is further against the establishment of a NATO military base in Georgia. The party tries to sell military neutrality by proposing to turn Georgia into the “Switzerland of the South Caucasus”.

Alliance of Patriots has been widely described as a pro-Russian or pro-Kremlin party by analysts, media outlets, and scholars. Political organizations engage in the criticism as well with both pro-Western opposition parties (such as United National Movement) and the themselves Eurosceptic Georgian Dream government labeling that accusation against the group. The party, however, denies that accusation referring to themselves as “pro-Georgian”. Malkhaz Topuria has stated that he had a panic attack after seeing him being labeled pro-Russian asking how can a person who fought against Russia in a war be pro-Russian. Some analysts disagree with the “pro-Russia” label and prefer to call the party "Russia neutral".

Links to Russia
Along with the party being commonly labeled as pro-Russian, allegations are widespread about both financial and political links between Alliance of Patriots and the Kremlin. The party leaders deny those claims.

Alliance of Patriots has been accused of being under the influence of the Kremlin. The party is seen as having both financial assistance as well as political backing from Moscow. The Russian analytical portal “Dossier” published documents that found direct financial links between the party and the Kremlin. In response to the leaks, Georgian Dream government questioned the party’s self-proclaimed patriotism and the opposition United National Movement called for its ban.

Members of the party have on numerous occasions visited Moscow. The visits have been widely condemned by both the pro-Western opposition as well as the Eurosceptic Georgian Dream government officials. Additionally, in August 2020, Irma Inashvili and Giorgi Lomia visited the occupied Abkhazia region and met with religious officials as well as people connected to the separatist Abkhaz leadership. The move has been justified by the party on religious grounds, claiming it to be a success.

Television
The Alliance party has a television channel, Objective, run by Inashvili. Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi has a series on the channel in which he lectures on the Bible and Orthodox Christianity.