Georgian Labour Party

The Georgian Labour Party is a political party in Georgia that was founded in 1995 by Shalva Natelashvili.

History

Background

The party was established in 1995 by Shalva Natelashvili, a deputy of the Parliament of Georgia and a former member of the National Democratic Party. The party was initially known as "National Rule of Law Union" and operated only in the small mountainous locality where Natelashvili hails from. In 1995, Natelashvili was elected to the parliament from this Dusheti constituency. Later in the same year, Natelashvili renamed the party into the Labor Party of Georgia.

Initial successes

The party became the "strongest force on the left of the political spectrum" and performed strongly in the 1998 local elections. It has been described as having occupied "the protest-vote niche" in mid- and late- 1990s. In 1998, the GLP received 9% of the votes nationwide and finished on 3rd place behind the ruling Union of Citizens and the Union for Revival. In capital Tbilisi, the GLP received 18%, ending up on second place. Despite this, in the 1999 Georgian parliamentary election, the party fell short of the electoral threshold to receive the seats in the parliament through the proportional representation. The party blamed the authorities for rigging the elections. Later the Labor Party went on to win the 2002 Georgian local elections with the United National Movement and the New Rights Party. In Tbilisi, the GLP finished on first place, winning 25% of the vote.

Decline

Despite these successes, the Labor Party has been described as having "extremely weak organizational structure" and lacking notable figures, with only Natelashvili being a recognizable face of the party. Moreover, it began to face competition for the protest vote by other new parties, such as the United National Movement. Additionally, Natelashvili's unexplained decision in 2002 to give up the post of the chairman of the Tbilisi City Assembly to Mikheil Saakashvili of the UNM has been described as damaging the party's potential.
When the alleged electoral fraud during the 2003 Georgian parliamentary election resulted in the mass protests, the Labor Party did not join them and condemned its leaders from the UNM and Burjanadze-Democrats parties. After the protests developed into the Rose Revolution resulting in the successful removal of then-president Eduard Shevardnadze from power, the Labor Party suffered a blow to its popularity and it lost dozens of activists. The party's growth in popularity has generally been described as having occurred prior to the Rose Revolution.

Political platform

The Labor Party has been described as social democratic and left-wing populist. In 1990s and early 2000s, the party built its campaigns on representing the "ordinary voter". It heavily drew on the protest vote and emphasized the social justice in its rhetoric. Its electoral programme from this period prioritized fighting "wild capitalism", "dictatorship of transnational companies", and "oligarchic and clan control over the economy". Instead, the party supported state control over the economy and the state monopoly over the oil industry. It particularly emphasized the state involvement in mining. The party campaigned for abolishing the land tax for peasants and farmers. In foreign policy, the party supported Georgia to be a neutral country. The party promised free healthcare, education and social services, as well as nationalization of strategically important facilities, calling for reversing their privatization of 1990s. In its 2004 election programme it also supported bicameralism and the removal of immunity from the MPs, as well as reducing the presidential powers. To stimulate the demographic growth, the party argued for establishing the "family's survival fund" to assist young families. It called for the membership into the European Union and NATO, as well as visa free regime both with Russia and the European Union, with Natelashvili expressing support for "many-sided foreign policy" and having "partnership relations" with Russia. By 2010, however, the Labor Party has been described as being "fairly ambivalent on the issue of Russian/Western orientation" and it again proposed military neutrality after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, presenting it as a genuine independence from both Moscow and Washington. Later the Labor Party again shifted to Euro-Atlanticism.