Natia Mezvrishvili, deputy chairwoman of the Gakharia for Georgia party, has condemned the nomination of Mikheil Kavelashvili as a presidential candidate by the Georgian Dream, claiming that Bidzina Ivanishvili’s actions have dismantled the last independent institution in the country.
Mezvrishvili warned that Georgia is now in a phase of “complete authoritarianism,” with an illegitimate parliament and government set to be followed by an illegitimate presidency.
In a social media post responding to Kavelashvili’s candidacy, Mezvrishvili focused on what she sees as the more pressing issue – the erosion of Georgia’s democratic institutions under Ivanishvili’s leadership. She criticized the attention given to the presidential nomination, arguing that it distracted from the true political crisis facing the country.
“Don’t give all spaces and all airwaves the lack of diplomacy,” Mezvrishvili wrote. “This is not the main political issue around which the agenda should now be created (believe me, this will only help Ivanishvili). The main thing is that Ivanishvili abolished the last independent institution. We have an illegitimate parliament, an illegitimate government, and we will have an illegitimate president.”
Mezvrishvili continued, asserting that Georgia has entered a phase of “complete authoritarianism,” which she described as an existential threat to the country’s democratic values. She added, “We have a government that no one from the democratic world recognizes.”
