The first coalition government of Independent Georgia
Georgia declared its independence on May 26, 1918. The first government of the country was a coalition government consisting of Social-Democrats, Socialist-Federalists, Socialist-Revolutionaries, and National Democrats.
Elections of the Constituent Assembly (Parliament) were held on February 14-16, 1919, under a fully proportional system and with no electoral threshold. The Social-Democratic Party won 83% of the vote and formed a one-party government. The new ministers fully retained the personnel of the ministries that had been staffed by the previous political opposition.
Aleksandre Lomtatidze, the Deputy Chairperson of the Constituent Assembly, wrote to Karlo Chkheidze, his party colleague who was elected Chairperson: “There is one circumstance that makes our work sluggish and drains the life out of it: the lack of opposition in the Assembly. Out of 130 deputies, the opposition has won only 21 seats.” Due to this state of affairs, the government did not nominate its candidates against the opposition in the by-elections, and the number of opposition deputies increased to 24.
In fact, all 24 opposition deputies in the Constituent Assembly took up the leading positions of deputy -speakers, chairs of parliamentary commissions (committees), and chairs of constitutional sub commissions.
Coalition administration continued down the line, at the municipal level in the regions.
The post of State Controller was held by Filipe Gogichaishvili, a member of the opposition Socialist-Federalist Party, whose main task was to fight corruption; the head of the Tbilisi police – Apolon Urushadze was also a representative of the political opposition.
Davit Kheltuplishvili, a non-partisan professional judge, was elected Chairperson of the Supreme Court (Senate). It should be noted that the government lost a number of cases in court, including politically important ones.
There was a consensus among the political elite that Georgia was moving away from Russia and towards Europe. The diplomatic missions abroad included more representatives of opposition parties than of the ruling party. In 1918, of the six delegates who traveled to Germany, only one (Akaki Chkhenkeli) represented the Social Democratic Party, whereas the rest were representatives of opposition parties. The Georgian delegations to Paris, London, and San Remo conferences in 1919-1920 included representatives of other political parties in addition to those of the ruling party. Along with Social-Democrats, representatives of opposition parties became heads of diplomatic missions: in Ottoman government of Constantinople – Grigol Rtskhiladze (Socialist-Federalist); in Ankara of Ataturk’s government – Svimon Mdivani (Socialist-Federalist); in Germany – Iazon Bakradze (Socialist-Federalist); in Scandinavia, first – Mikhako Tsereteli (National-Democrat), afterwards Aristo Chumburidze (Socialist-Federalist); in Britain – Davit Ghamabshidze (National-Democrat).
