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Girchi
Georgian political party / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Girchi (Georgian: გირჩი, romanized: girchi, lit. 'pine cone') is a libertarian political party in Georgia.[2] It was founded and registered in spring of 2016 by four dissenting members of United National Movement.[3] It included Zurab Japaridze, the chairman of the party from 2016 to 2018 as well as the de facto leader up until his departure in 2020, who went on to establish a new party with a similar name Girchi - More Freedom.[2] Iago Khvichia has served as the party's chairman since 2018.[4]
Girchi გირჩი | |
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Chairperson | Iago Khvichia |
Governing body | Governing Council |
Founders | Zurab Japaridze Pavle Kublashvili Goga Khachidze Giorgi Meladze |
Founded | 16 April 2016 (2016-04-16) |
Registered | 18 May 2016 (2016-05-18) |
Split from | United National Movement |
Headquarters | 3–5 April 9th Street Tbilisi, Georgia |
Newspaper | More Freedom |
Membership (2024) | 3,007 |
Ideology | Libertarianism |
Political position | Right-wing |
Religion | Church of Biblical Freedom |
International affiliation | International Alliance of Libertarian Parties[1] |
Colors | Green |
Seats In Parliament | 4 / 150 |
Municipal Councilors | 1 / 2,068 |
Election symbol | |
Conifer cone | |
Party flag | |
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Website | |
www | |
Girchi is a proponent of free market and small government. Additionally, the party is against most forms of taxation and regulations.[5][6][7] Despite commonly being categorized as a right-wing party, it supports policies such as drug liberalization, sex work legalization, and the abolition of military conscription effectively making Girchi one of the most socially liberal parties in Georgia.[8][9] It is, however, in favor of other more traditionally conservative social issues like gun rights and unrestricted freedom of speech and has called "Wokeism" a "modern type of communism".[9][10]
Girchi has been called a "youth-based right-wing party" with an unconventional political strategy targeted towards young people.[11][12] The party has often made headlines for its outlandish activism, which has included establishing a satirical church to help young men avoid conscription, party members pulling down their pants in front of Russian military forces, and opening a brothel in its headquarters.[13][14][15] It has taken several issues to court, the most consequential of which are Givi Shanidze v. Parliament of Georgia and Zurab Japaridze and Vakhtang Megrelishvili v. Parliament of Georgia cases that led to the full legalization of marijuana in Georgia, for both recreational and medical purposes, whilst keeping restrictions on its trade.[16][17]