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European Socialists

ევროპელი სოციალისტები
European Socialists ევროპელი სოციალისტები
Chairman	Fridon Injia
Founded	January 9, 2021
Split from	Alliance of Patriots
Headquarters	Tbilisi
Ideology	Populism; Conservatism; Soft Euroscepticism;
Political position	Fiscal: Centre-left; Social: Right-wing;
Colors	Blue and Red
Seats In Parliament	0 / 150
Seats In Martvili Municipal Assembly	4 / 33
Website
	eusocialists.ge
	Politics of Georgia; Political parties; Elections;

European Socialists (Georgian: ევროპელი სოციალისტები, romanized: evrop'eli sotsialist'ebi) is a political party in Georgia. The party was founded on January 9, 2021, by four MPs who defected from the right-wing populist Alliance of Patriots party list. The party was registered in the National Agency of Public Registry on 28 January 2021.

The party represented an opposition in the 10th convocation of Parliament of Georgia from 2021 to 2024, but it failed to receive any seats in the 2024 Georgian parliamentary election as it failed to gather enough signatures to register for the polls.^[3] While in Parliament, European Socialists was known for close cooperation with the ruling Georgian Dream government. The party supports the controversial 'foreign agent bill'. The group’s political leanings are a subject to debate among analysts with some seeing the party as social democratic and pro-European, while others argue it is a conservative pro-Russian party.

History

In 2020 parliamentary election, Alliance of Patriots, a right-wing populist and anti-Western party, received 3.14% of the vote electing 4 deputies through the party list. However, the party along with the rest of the opposition claimed that the results were fabricated and therefore refused to enter the parliament, launching protests against the government.^[4]^[5]

Irma Inashvili, Gocha Tevdoradze, and Giorgi Lomia suspended their MP status, however, the party as a whole did not cancel the entire party list, which allowed Avtandil Enukidze, Davit Zilpimiani, Gela Mikadze, and Pridon Injia to keep their mandates and enter the parliament.^[4] They soon left Alliance of Patriots and established European Socialists, formally rejecting their former party's Euroscepticism and support for military neutrality, declaring a Euro-Atlantic agenda.^[6] Alliance of Patriots has referred to the move as a "betrayal" and described their name as "cynical", stating that a party of "4 millionaires can not be socialist".^[7]

The party ran in the 2021 local elections. It got 0.15% nationwide with almost the entirety of its vote being concentrated in Martvili. There it elected 4 MPs getting 6%. The party managed to elect another MP in Kazbegi.^[8]

In 2024, European Socialists supported the controversial 'foreign agents bill' that led to the widespread protests.^[9] The party’s registration to run in the 2024 parliamentary election was rejected by the Election Administration of Georgia due to the party failing to provide 25,000 signatures before the 1 August deadline.^[10] Ilia Injia, the son of the party leader Fridon Injia became a Georgian Dream candidate on its electoral list.^[11]

Ideology

Despite the party's name projecting a left-wing pro-European image, analysts disagree over the party's actual political leanings.^[12] Some see the party as standing for socialism, social democracy, and pro-Europeanism, while others disagree and see the group as a conservative or a far-right Trojan Horse.^[1]^[2]^[13]^[14]^[15] Additionally, the party is frequently described as pro-Russian and anti-Western with Europe Elects seeing the party as being "somewhat opposed to EU integration".^[2]^[16]^[17]^[18] Myth Detector has further labeled the comments made by the party as xenophobic.^[16] The party is also described as having a "tendency towards authoritarianism".^[1] It is widely labeled a pro-Government party or its proxy.^[15]^[19]^[20]