Georgia’s fifth president, Salome Zurabishvili, has welcomed the creation of an “opposition alliance.”

Zurabishvili sees the initiative as “an important and new step” that will lead to a “concrete transition strategy.”

According to Salome Zurabishvili, the strategy should serve as a basis for regime change and peaceful transition.

“I welcome the opposition alliance that has been created!

At a time when different political forces agree on basic principles, this means that democratic forces in Georgia are ready to take the initiative and act to save the country.

As the initiator of the Georgian Charter, I see in this initiative an important and new step that will lead us to a specific transition strategy. This strategy should become the basis for a united struggle of political and public forces — to ensure regime change and peaceful transformation.

The experience of the Charter and the Resistance Platform teaches us that the independence, freedom and development of the country — its future — should be above any party or narrow interests. It is precisely such a vision of the future, which unites the opposition spectrum and society, that will be able to overcome polarization and achieve new national consolidation,” Zurabishvili wrote on Facebook.

Some of the opposition parties announced the creation of the Opposition Alliance yesterday. The document was signed by the Coalition for Change, United National Movement, Strategy Builder, Federalists, National Democratic Party, European Georgia and Freedom Square.

The signatory opposition forces agree on a common strategy and joint rules of action and declare that, through joint efforts, they will free Georgia from Bidzina Ivanishvili’s “autocratic regime”, restore the country’s Euro-Atlantic course and ensure democratic governance.

The agreement is based on several principles, including unity without uniformity. In particular, according to the document, the founding parties of the alliance maintain their ideological identity, but agree on a unified protest action and communication strategy.

The parties participating in the agreement also agree on a code of conduct that regulates the rules of relations between the signatory entities and establishes responsibility for their violation.

The Opposition Alliance pledges to “fight to the end - until the release of political prisoners and victory in free, fair elections.”