The opposition platform Coalition for Change has unveiled the frontrunners of its electoral list for the October parliamentary elections.
The list is headed by Nana Malashkhia, a civil servant known for her iconic photo holding the EU flag against a water cannon during the March 2023 protests against the Foreign Agents Law. Malashkhia joined the Coalition on September 23.
“It is a great honor for me to participate in this fight with this team and to be the number one of this team that will bring changes, those fundamental and systemic changes that are necessary for the development of the country,” Malashkhia said in a video address. “This is a fight for the independence of the country and for the fundamental changes necessary to join the European Union. I am sure that Georgia will win on October 26,” she added.
Three coalition leaders —Nika Melia of Ahali, Zurab Japaridze of Girchi-More Freedom, and Elene Khoshtaria of Droa—are on the list. Nika Gvaramia, co-chair of the Ahali party and a key figure in the Coalition, declined to run for parliament, pledging to “make way for new people.”
The list also includes Khatuna Samnidze, the leader of the Republican Party, which joined the coalition in August.
Of the top 20 candidates, only two—Elene Khoshtaria and Giga Lemonjava—are from the Droa party. Three—Zurab Japaridze, Tsotne Koberidze, and Boris (Chele) Kurua—are from Girchi-More Freedom, while eleven are from the Ahali party.
Of the top 20, eight are women.
Below is the list of the top 20 MP candidates of the Coalition for Change:
- Nana Malashkhia, civil servant, popular “woman with the EU flag”
- Nika Melia, co-founder and co-chair of the Ahali party, former Chair of the UNM
- Zurab Girchi Japaridze, leader of the Girchi-More Freedom party
- Giga Lemonjava, General Secretary of the Droa Party, პrofessor, International Security Specialist
- Tengiz Tevzadze, member of the Ahali party, Candidate for CEC Chair in 2022, professor at the University of Georgia, Faculty of Law
- Tsotne Koberidze, Tsotne Koberidze, member of Girchi-More Freedom party, member of Tbilisi City Council (Sakrebulo)
- Giorgi Kirtadze, member of the Ahali party, a former member of UNM, a former independent member of the Supreme Council of Adjara
- Ivane Chkonia, a businessman, one of the founders of the Vote for Europe platform;
- Khatuna Samnidze, leader of the Republican party
- Oktai Kazumovi, leader of the organization Activists for Future, philologist, TV presenter and translator
- Maia Kopaleishvili, member of the Ahali party, lawyer, former Constitutional Court judge, represented the interests of President Salome Zurabishvili in the impeachment case before the Constitutional Court.
- Boris Kurua, member of the Girchi-More Freedom party, lawyer
- Ana Gogoladze, member of the Ahali party, former member of UNM and Tbilisi City Council (Sakrebulo)
- Giorgi Butikashvili, Member of the Ahali party, Researcher at Tbilisi State University and Texas University program
- Giorgi Imedashvili, Chair of the Ahali Political Council, International relations and Middle East specialist
- Elene Khoshtaria, leader of the Droa party
- Sopo Goletiani, member of the Ahali Party, sales trainer, doctor of business administration
- Marika Arevadze, member of the Ahali party, lawyer, lecturer
- Ani Kavtaradze, member of the Ahali party, doctor, founder of the International Association of Georgian Doctors
- Tornike Bikashvili, member of the Ahali party, legal scholar
Today, September 26, is the deadline for the political parties to submit their MP candidate lists to the Central Election Commission. On October 26, Georgians will go to the polls to vote in fully proportional elections.
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