Operatic Bass Launches Political Party
Operatic bass Paata Burchuladze announced on Thursday about launching political party, the State for the People, which, he said, will win a “solid” representation in the Parliament to be elected in the October 8 elections.
His announcement about going into politics came as no surprise. In late November Burchuladze, 61, launched the Georgian Development Foundation, and although he has remained noncommittal about political plans up until now, Burchuladze has been travelling in the regions since January, opening there branch offices of his foundation and meeting locals in campaign-style events.
“The country is in such a state now, which forced me to quit my career and my sweet life in order to lead the political party,” said Burchuladze, whose operatic career spanned more than 35 years.
In a written statement earlier on May 12, he said in an apparent reference to billionaire ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili: “We do not want the country to have an informal ruler and to live according to his taste, in the world created according to his taste.”
“Under the incumbent government, we have received the country which does not know what it wants,” said Burchuladze, who has been involved in charity work for children through his Iavnana foundation for over a decade.
“The task is the following: we should change politics itself and we will have a chance to change the country… There is no place for either ignorant or dishonest people in the politics; they may still remain in the politics, but let’s try to make them minority,” he said, adding that he wants Georgia to become “a member of the European family.”
In one of the recent publicly available public opinion surveys, Burchuladze’s movement polled third after GDDG ruling party and opposition UNM.
Asked about Burchuladze’s decision to go into politics, PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who is set to become chairman of the ruling GDDG party later this week, said that “the more political players are out there, the more competitive the environment will be.”
“But I think that the Georgian Dream is unrivaled and has a serious advantage, which will be confirmed in the elections,” PM Kvirikashvili said.