The Burjanadze-Democrats was an election bloc in the republic of

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 ...

founded in 2003. It played important role in the 2003

Rose Revolution The Rose Revolution or Revolution of Roses ( ka, ვარდების რევოლუცია, tr) was a nonviolent change of power that occurred in Georgia in November 2003. The event was brought about by widespread protests over the ...

. It was led by

Zurab Zhvania Zurab Zhvania ( ka, ზურაბ ჟვანია; 9 December 1963 – 3 February 2005) was a Georgia (country), Georgian politician, who served as Prime Minister of Georgia and Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia. Zhvania began h ...

and

Nino Burjanadze Nino Burjanadze (; ; born 16 July 1964) is a Georgian politician and lawyer who served as Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia from November 2001 to June 2008. As the first woman, she has served as the acting head of state of Georgia twice; ...

. Other famous members of this bloc included

Gigi Tsereteli George "Gigi" Tsereteli (born 23 February 1964) is a member and former vice-speaker of the Parliament of Georgia and the president of Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Education *1970–1977: T ...

and Eldar Shengelaia.

History

The electoral bloc was created prior to the

2003 Georgian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Georgia (country), Georgia on 2 November 2003 alongside a 2003 Georgian constitutional referendum, constitutional referendum. According to statistics released by the Georgian Election Commission, the elections ...

, amidst the chaos and inner struggle within the ruling

Union of Citizens of Georgia Union of Citizens of Georgia (UCG; ka, საქართველოს მოქალაქეთა კავშირი, tr), also known as the Citizens' Union of Georgia or Georgian Citizens' Union, was the ruling party of Georgia from 1 ...

, which many of its leaders had begun to leave. As such,

, one of the leaders of the UCG in the

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, established his own 'United Democrats' opposition party on 17 June 2002. He was soon joined by

, an independent deputy in the Parliament of Georgia which was elected as the chairperson with the support of rival groupings within the UCG in November 2001. Burjanadze announced her decision to join the opposition on 3 June 2003, during the demonstration against the government of President

Eduard Shevardnadze Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze ( ka, ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia (country), Georgi ...

. Zhvania was able to win over quite popular Nino Burjanadze by August 2003. The electoral alliance Burjanadze-Democrats was officially announced on 21 August 2003. The bloc was further boosted when it was joined by the Akaki Asatiani's

Union of Georgian Traditionalists The Union of Georgian Traditionalists ( ka, ქართველ ტრადიციონალისტთა კავშირი, tr) was a national political organization of the Georgian Political Emigration in the 1930s, established in ...

in September 2003. In November 2003, the electoral bloc was part of the protests against the results of the 2003 parliamentary election, claiming the fraud. With

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 ...

's fellow opposition party, the

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 ...

, widespread protests were held including a storming of the Parliament building on 22 November 2003, preventing the launch of the first session of the new parliament. The protest was quickly followed by

's resignation. The United National Movement and the Burjanadze-Democrats formed the bloc National Movement-Democrats (NMD) and secured overwhelming victory in the

2004 Georgian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Georgia (country), Georgia on 28 March 2004. They followed the partial annulment of the 2003 Georgian parliamentary election, November 2003 parliamentary elections, which were widely believed to have been rigg ...

with 67.75% of the vote. Nino Burjanadze was elected to the chairmanship of the parliament, while Zurab Zhvania became the

Prime Minister of Georgia The prime minister of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს პრემიერ-მინისტრი, tr) is the head of government and chief executive of Georgia (country), Georgia. In Georgia, the President of Georgia, presi ...

. Soon, Zurab Zhvania died in controversial circumstances in his flat in 2005, while Nino Burjanadze announced her withdrawal from the coalition, launching her own party

Democratic Movement – United Georgia Democratic Movement – United Georgia ( ka, დემოკრატიული მოძრაობა — ერთიანი საქართველო, tr) is a political party in Georgia chaired by Nino Burjanadze; it was founded o ...

in 2008.

Ideology

The Burjanadze-Democrats has been described as being a

moderate Moderate is an ideological category which entails centrist views on a liberal-conservative spectrum. It may also designate a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. Political position Canad ...

political force in comparasion to the

. The United Democrats has been characterized as professing

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

liberal democratic Liberal democracy, also called Western-style democracy, or substantive democracy, is a form of government that combines the organization of a democracy with ideas of liberal political philosophy. Common elements within a liberal democracy are: ...

values, while Burjanadze was marked by her slogan "revolutionary changes without the revolution". The National Movement and the Burjanadze-Democrats have been described as being "

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

and

Mensheviks The Mensheviks ('the Minority') were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. Mensheviks held more moderate and reformist ...

of the Rose Revolution". The electoral programme of the bloc focused on improving the business environment, reducing bureaucracy, implementing administrative reform, reducing presidential powers, abolishing the presidential appointment of regional governors, introducing two-chamber parliament and a cabinet of minsiters, and launching

affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...

programmes to integrate national minorities. Its main appeal to its voters was the political experience and prudence of its leaders, with the main slogan being "we are not radicals". The bloc considered as its main voter base to be the

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

and the middle class.

Electoral performance

References

{{Georgia-party-stub Politics of Georgia (country) 2003 establishments in Georgia (country)