Georgian Labour Party საქართველოს ლეიბორისტული პარტია
Chairman	Shalva Natelashvili
Secretary-General	Giorgi Gugava
Founded	August 1995
Headquarters	I. Javakhishvili 88,Tbilisi
Youth wing	Labour Youth
Women's wing	Labourist Women in Georgia
Ideology	Social democracy[1][2] Left-wing populism[2][3] Pro-Europeanism[4][2] Formerly: Neutralism[5]
Political position	Centre-left[1][2][6]
National affiliation	United National Council (2007–2008)
Colors	Red
Seats inParliament	0 / 150
Municipal Councilors	0 / 2,058
Website
www.labour.ge
Politics of Georgia Political parties Elections

TheGeorgian Labour Party (Georgian:საქართველოს ლეიბორისტული პარტია,romanized:sakartvelos leiborist'uli p'art'ia, SLP) is apolitical party inGeorgia that was founded in 1995 byShalva Natelashvili.

The party was established in 1995 by Shalva Natelashvili, a deputy of theParliament of Georgia and a former member of theNational Democratic Party. The party was initially known as "National Rule of Law Union" and operated only in the small mountainous locality where Natelashvili hails from. In 1995, Natelashvili was elected to the parliament from thisDusheti constituency. Later in the same year, Natelashvili renamed the party into the Labor Party of Georgia.^[7]

The party became the "strongest force on theleft of the political spectrum" and performed strongly in the1998 local elections.^[7] It has been described as having occupied "theprotest-vote niche" in mid- and late- 1990s.^[8] In 1998, the GLP received 9% of the votes nationwide and finished on 3rd place behind the rulingUnion of Citizens and theUnion for Revival. In capitalTbilisi, the GLP received 18%, ending up on second place.^[9] Despite this, in the1999 Georgian parliamentary election, the party fell short of the electoral threshold to receive the seats in the parliament through theproportional representation.^[10] The party blamed the authorities for rigging the elections.^[11] Later the Labor Party went on to win the2002 Georgian local elections with theUnited National Movement and theNew Rights Party.^[12] In Tbilisi, the GLP finished on first place, winning 25% of the vote.^[13]

Despite these successes, the Labor Party has been described as having "extremely weak organizational structure" and lacking notable figures, with only Natelashvili being a recognizable face of the party. Moreover, it began to face competition for the protest vote by other new parties, such as theUnited National Movement.^[7] Additionally, Natelashvili's unexplained decision in 2002 to give up the post of the chairman of theTbilisi City Assembly toMikheil Saakashvili of the UNM has been described as damaging the party's potential.^[14]

When the alleged electoral fraud during the2003 Georgian parliamentary election resulted in the mass protests, the Labor Party did not join them and condemned its leaders from the UNM andBurjanadze-Democrats parties.^[7] After the protests developed into theRose Revolution resulting in the successful removal of then-presidentEduard Shevardnadze from power, the Labor Party suffered a blow to its popularity and it lost dozens of activists.^[15] The party's growth in popularity has generally been described as having occurred prior to the Rose Revolution.^[16]

The Labor Party has been described associal democratic andleft-wing populist.^[1][3][17] In 1990s and early 2000s, the party built its campaigns on representing the "ordinary voter". It heavily drew on theprotest vote and emphasized thesocial justice in its rhetoric.^[18] Its electoral programme from this period prioritized fighting "wild capitalism", "dictatorship of transnational companies", and "oligarchic and clan control over the economy". Instead, the party supported state control over the economy and the state monopoly over the oil industry. It particularly emphasized thestate involvement in mining. The party campaigned for abolishing the land tax for peasants and farmers. In foreign policy, the party supported Georgia to be aneutral country.^[5][19] The party promised free healthcare, education and social services, as well asnationalization of strategically important facilities, calling for reversing theirprivatization of 1990s. In its 2004 election programme it also supportedbicameralism and the removal of immunity from the MPs, as well as reducing the presidential powers. To stimulate the demographic growth, the party argued for establishing the "family's survival fund" to assist young families. It called for the membership into theEuropean Union andNATO, as well as visa free regime both with Russia and the European Union, with Natelashvili expressing support for "many-sided foreign policy" and having "partnership relations" with Russia.^[20][21] By 2010, however, the Labor Party has been described as being "fairly ambivalent on the issue of Russian/Western orientation" and it again proposed military neutrality after the 2008Russo-Georgian War, presenting it as a genuine independence from both Moscow and Washington.^[16][22][23] Later the Labor Party again shifted toEuro-Atlanticism.^[24]

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Government
1999	Shalva Natelashvili	140,595	7.02	2 / 235	2	4th	Opposition
2003	Shalva Natelashvili	229,900	12.04	20 / 235	18	4th	Opposition
2004	Shalva Natelashvili	89,981	6.01	4 / 150	16	4th	Opposition
2008	Shalva Natelashvili	132,092	7.44	6 / 150	2	4th	Opposition
2012	Shalva Natelashvili	26,759	1.24	0 / 150	6	4th	Extra-parliamentary
2016	Shalva Natelashvili	55,208	3.14	0 / 150	0	7th	Extra-parliamentary
2020	Shalva Natelashvili	19,314	1.00	1 / 150	1	9th	Opposition
2024	Shalva Natelashvili	15,103	0.73	0 / 150	1	8th	Extra-parliamentary

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
1998	151,532	8.91	—	New
2002	—	—	152 / 4,801	—
2006	—	—	39 / 1,694	113
2010	Did not participate
2014[25]	48,862	3.45	30 / 2,088	30
2017[26]	49,130	3.27	17 / 2,043	13
2021[27]	24,329	1.38	3 / 2,068	14
2025	Did not participate

Year	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Government
1998	46,206	17.90	12 / 55	New	2nd	Government
2002	71,145	25.50	15 / 49	3	1st	Government
2006	32,701	10.65	1 / 37	14	3rd	Opposition
2010	Did not participate
2014	11,290	3.43	0 / 40		5th	Extra-parliamentary
2017	15,112	3.90	0 / 50		5th	Extra-parliamentary
2021	6,293	1.31	0 / 50		11th	Extra-parliamentary
2025	Did not participate

• Official website
• Shalva Natelashvili Facebook Page

• 1995 establishments in Georgia (country)
• Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights
• European Court of Human Rights cases involving Georgia (country)
• Labour parties
• Political parties established in 1995
• Populist parties
• Pro-European political parties in Georgia (country)
• Social democratic parties in Asia
• Social democratic parties in Europe
• Social democratic parties in Georgia (country)
• Centre-left parties in Georgia (country)

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Georgian-language text