Georgian Dream () was a catch-all political alliance in Georgia formed around Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia (GD – DG) party in opposition to the then-ruling United National Movement (UNM) party. The coalition was formed in 2012 with it winning the parliamentary election held in the same year. The alliance was dissolved in 2016 after which GD – DG went on to win 2016 and 2020 parliamentary elections independently.

The coalition initially included six political parties of diverse ideological orientations. The parties ranged from pro-market and pro-Western liberals to nationalists and protectionists, united in their dislike of Mikheil Saakashvili and UNM. The alliance was further supported by three other parties who while formally not a part of the coalition ran their candidates on Georgian Dream list.

History The opposition Formation

United National Movement led by Mikheil Saakashvili had become increasingly unpopular due to numerous scandals, alleged abuse of power, and controversial economic reforms. The Georgian Dream coalition was founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili on 21 February 2012, as a vehicle for his newly established Georgian Dream movement to unite the opposition and challenge the ruling UNM in the parliamentary election of the same year.

Republican Party, led by David Usupashvili, and Our Georgia – Free Democrats, led by Irakli Alasania, had been outlined by Ivanishvili as his future coalition partners in November 2011. In January 2012, Ivanishvili brokered partnership with the Conservative Party, while the National Forum announced its alliance with GD-DG on 6 February. Moreover, some parties, such as People's Party (PP), Social Democrats for the Development of Georgia (SDDG) and Greens Party of Georgia (GPG), also fielded their candidates on the coalition's ticket without formally joining the coalition. In April, Industry Will Save Georgia also joined the alliance.

2012 parliamentary election

On 27 May 2012, in a rally held in downtown Tbilisi with 80,000 participants, Ivanishvili announced the start of the election campaign. The rally was one of the largest public demonstrations in the country's post-independence history. In the subsequent months, rallies were held in other major cities in Georgia, including Kutaisi, Zugdidi, and Gori.

The Georgian Dream's campaign surged after the Gldani prison scandal, which highlighted widespread torture in Georgian prisons under Saakashvili's administration. In response to GD rallies that regularly attracted tens of thousands of people, the government responded by staging a rival mass event.

The Georgian Dream coalition successfully challenged the ruling UNM party in the 2012 parliamentary election.Ivanishvili's Political Party Launched. Civil Georgia. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012. It won this election with 54.97% of the vote, gaining 85 seats in parliament. Out of the 85 seats, GD-DG and the non-coalition parties running on its list got 47 seats, Free Democrats - 11, Republican Party - 9, while Conservative Party, Industry Will Save Georgia, and National Forum each got 6 seats. Out of the 47 MPs elected from GD-DG's ticket, GPG, PP, and SDDG got a seat each.

Widespread celebrations were held in Tbilisi in support of Georgian Dream. The next day, President Saakashvili accepted the results as legitimate, while at the same time noting that he remained deeply opposed to the coalition. Saakashvili pledged to support the constitutional process of forming a new government and peaceful transfer of power.

Coalition government (2012-2016)

On 22 October 2012 the Georgian Parliament elected the leader of the Republican Party, Davit Usupashvili as its new speaker. Three days later Ivanishvili was voted in as the country's new prime minister, with 88 votes in favor to 54 against. The most ministries in the 21-member cabinet went to the Georgian Dream party, while the Free Democrats party was represented in the government by four ministers: Tea Tsulukiani as the Minister of Justice, Irakli Alasania as the Minister of Defense and Vice Premier, Alexi Petriashvili as the State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, and Kote Surguladze as the State Minister on the Diaspora Issues. The Republican Party was represented by Paata Zakareishvili as the State Minister for Reintegration, while the National Forum was represented by the Davit Darakhvelidze as the Minister of Internally Displaced Persons.

Being a diverse and eclectic coalition, the Georgian Dream parliamentary majority diversified into several parliamentary factions, with each constituent party in the coalition having its own parliamentary group within the majority: "Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia", "Georgian Dream-Republicans", "Georgian Dream-Conservatives", "Georgian Dream-National Forum", "Georgian Dream-Industrialists", and "Georgian Dream-Free Democrats".

Ivanishvili government

Georgia, under Ivanishvili's leadership, retained most of the reforms passed during the UNM government. Georgia maintained the free market economic model, while also establishing a functional social safety net. During Ivanishvili's tenure as the prime minister, the government increased social spending. In 2013, the government increased pensions, social assistance allowances, and education spending. Georgian Dream introduced the Universal Healthcare Program (UHP). The reform made state-sponsored health insurance available on a mass scale. In June 2013, the parliament adopted a new Labour Code in line with International Labour Organization (ILO) standards.

The government implemented prison and crime reform. During the previous administration, that pursued a zero-tolerance policy, the prisoner numbers shot up from 6,000 in 2003 to 24,000 in 2012. The prisons were overcrowded and prisoners were subject to systematic torture. During GD’s rule, the mortality rate in prisons considerably went down and prison healthcare was overhauled. Additionally, the practice of cumulative sentencing was abolished in April 2013.

The government persecuted thirty-five officials who had served under the previous government with criminal charges ranging from embezzlement to abuse of power and torture. Former Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili, governor of Kakheti Zurab Tchiaberashvili, and Head of the Penitentiary Department Bacho Akhalaia were among the ones who were arrested. Overall more than 20,000 complaints were filed by citizens and inmates with the Prosecutor's Office in connection to the past administration, including 4,000 cases of alleged torture or ill-treatment.

In December 2012, Parliament passed the Amnesty Bill, which granted either full exemption from punishment or a reduction of prison sentences—by up to one-fourth—to nearly all prisoners, except those covered by other forms of amnesty. 190 inmates were also recognized as the political prisoners. President Saakashvili vetoed the bill. On 28 December, the Parliament overturned the President's vote, for the first time in Georgia's history. President Saakashvili still refused to sign the bill, after which Usupashvili signed the bill into law on 12 January 2013. By March 2013, Georgia's prison population was reduced by half compared to January 2012 with near 8,000 prisoners being released.

Ivanishvili's government took steps to improve relations with Russia. However, since the Georgian Dream coalition opposed the restoration of formal diplomatic and political relations with Russia until the disputes with Russia over Abkhazia and South Ossetia were resolved, a Georgian diplomat Zurab Abashidze was appointed as a Special Representative of the Georgian government to mend ties outside formal diplomatic relations by meeting periodically with his Russian counterpart Grigory Karasin on neutral ground in Prague. Thus, diplomatic relations between Russia and Georgia remained formally broken (a fact resulting from the 2008 August Russo-Georgian war). In December 2012, Russian and Georgian representatives met in Prague and had the first two-way discussions since the war.Россия и Грузия вызвались на разговор // Kommersant 15.12.2012 The "Prague Format" of Russia-Georgia relations was not meant to facilitate the resolution of disputes regarding Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as both sides remained at odds over these issues. Abashidze emphasized that the question of its territorial integrity is Georgia's "red line" on which no concession is conceivable. The Prague Format was rather focused on a pragmatic process on matters of mutual interest that are unrelated to the breakaways, such as economics and humanitarian issues. However, the Georgian government also took steps towards European Union integration, which Ivanishvili described as a foreign policy priority. In February 2013, Tamar Beruchachvili, the Deputy State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Georgia, ruled out joining the Eurasian Economic Union.

2013 presidential election

For the 2013 presidential election the coalition decided on a common candidate in May 2013, with Ivanishvili presenting Giorgi Margvelashvili, the education minister.Georgian PM names pro-Western ally presidential candidate. Reuters. 11 May 2013. In October 2013, Margvelashvili, with Ivanishvili's backing, managed to secure a landslide victory in the election, garnering 62% of votes. Subsequently, Ivanishvili announced his intention to resign as prime minister. On 20 November 2013, Ivanishvili resigned as prime minister. He was succeeded by Interior Minister Irakli Garibashvili, whom he had announced as his successor on 2 November 2013.

Garibashvili government

Upon taking office, Garibashvili made no changes to the cabinet. He named Alexandre Tchikaidze, the chief of Tbilisi police department, as his replacement on the post of the Interior Minister. Garibashvili and his cabinet was confirmed with the vote of 93–19. Garibashvili listed economic growth and Georgia's EU and NATO aspiration as his main priorities.

During Garibashvili's tenure, Association Agreement was signed with the European Union on 27 June 2014, with it being fully ratified by Georgia and all EU member states by January 2016. A second agreement about the country's involvement in EU crisis management operations, was also signed.

On 2 May 2014, the Parliament approved an anti-discrimination law. The parliament voted unanimously to pass the bill, with 115 votes in favour and zero against. The adoption of the anti-discrimination law was recommended by the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) Country Progress Report for Georgia and it became a prerequisite for finalizing the Visa Liberalization Action Plan between Georgia and the European Union.

Georgian Orthodox Church and conservative groups voiced their opposition to the bill, highlighting the part that specified sexual orientation and gender identity as grounds for prohibited discrimination, with some conservative activists and priests arguing that the bill would "enshrine perversion" in the Georgian society. In response to the criticism of the anti-discrimination law, Georgian Dream proposed to put a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, despite an existing implicit ban in the Civil Code. Prime Minister Garibashvili stated that the new anti-discrimination law exemplified the "long Georgian tradition of tolerance", however, he also noted that the marriage is a union between a man and a woman. He cited European Union members such as Croatia and Latvia that constitutionally define marriage with the same terms. Garibashvili added that a constitutional amendment was necessary to avoid confusion in the society that the anti-discrimination law granted any new rights or privileges to any group and therefore would lead to same-sex marriage in the future. Prime Minister added that the anti-discrimination law was designed to enable every citizen equally use the rights that are already defined by the legislation.

Coalition dissolution (2013-2016)