National Independence Party of Georgia
National Independence Party of Georgia | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Irakli Tsereteli |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Ideology | Georgian nationalism[1] |
The National Independence Party of Georgia (NIP) is a Georgian political party. The party was an important force during the transition from the Soviet Union to independence but subsequently faded and its current status in unknown.
History[edit]
The group was established in 1988 by Irakli Tsereteli, a member of the pro-independence Ilia Chavchavadze Society as a focus for more radical members of that group.[2] It took a strongly nationalist and anti-communist ideological position.[1]
On 30 September 1990 they took part in elections to the Georgian National Congress, an unofficial body established by pro-independence groups who were boycotting the elections to the Supreme Soviet. With 35.6% of the vote and 71 seats in the new body the NIP was the largest group within the body, although in practice the Congress had little real power.[2]
The party was strongly opposed to the country joining the Commonwealth of Independent States and in general took a strong line of opposition to Eduard Shevardnadze with Tsereteli instigating a programme of public protests in June 1993 to force the then Chairman of Parliament to resign. The initiative was not a success.[2]
They won four seats in the Parliament of Georgia at the 1992 general election but lost them three years later.[3] Along with other radical nationalist groups they were damaged by a constitutional change that now required 5% of the vote to gain seats in Parliament and they fell short of this total.[2] Before the election attempts had been made to form an electoral bloc with other radical right-wing elements such as the Merab Kostava Society, Charter 91, the remnants of the Ilia Chavchavadze Society and monarchist groups but these floundered due to political and personality clashes.[4]
The party, and indeed their competitors on the hard-line nationalist scene, all faded in the mid 1990s as part of a wider de-radicalisation of Georgian politics that saw attempts to build more normal relations with Russia in the aftermath of the War in Abkhazia as well as a desire to forge ever closer links to European institutions as an alternative to nationalist isolation.[5]
The party did not contest any subsequent elections but continued as an extra-parliamentary opposition. In the run-up to the 2000 presidential election Tsereteli was prominent in the Centre for Georgia's Freedom and Independence, a group that advocated a boycott of the election, while also maintaining his leadership of the NIP.[6] Also translated as the Georgian Centre for Democracy and Freedom, this was an electoral alliance of 25 opposition parties, 14 of which - including the Ilia Chavchavadze Society, Georgian Labour Party, the United Republican Party, and the Greens - supported a boycott of the election as they argued the early vote was unconstitutional.[7] The NIP was still listed in existence as of 2002[8] while Tsereteli was still described as party leader in 2006 when he was arrested on charges of encouraging Emzar Kvitsiani in his activities in the Kodori Valley.[9]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Stephen Jones, Georgia: A Political History Since Independence, I.B. Tauris, 2015, pp. 38-39
- ^ a b c d Jonathan Wheatley, Georgia from National Awakening to Rose Revolution: Delayed Transition in the Former Soviet Union, Routledge, 2017 link
- ^ Nohlen, D, Grotz, F & Hartmann, C (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p382 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
- ^ Jones, Georgia, p. 89
- ^ Jones, Georgia, pp. 235-236
- ^ "GEORGIA: VETERAN GEORGIAN OPPOSITION FIGURE ASSAULTED.(National Independence Party of Georgia Chairman Irakli Tsereteli)". Info-Prod Research. 5 April 2000. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
- ^ "GEORGIA: TWELVE CANDIDATES QUALIFY FOR GEORGIAN PRESIDENTIAL POLL AS GEORGIAN OPPOSITION ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES BOYCOTT". Info-Prod Research. 2 March 2000. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
- ^ Imogen Bell (ed.), Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia 2003, Taylor & Francis, 2002, 3rd Edition, p. 192
- ^ Liz Fuller, Georgia: Former Minister's Allies Accused Of Plotting Coup
