UNM member urges opposition to abandon local elections, build street resistance

United National Movement member Ana Tsitlidze has called on Georgia’s opposition parties to shift their focus away from forthcoming local elections and instead concentrate on mobilising public resistance against what she described as a regime that “violates the Constitution”.

Speaking in response to a proposal by opposition politician Zurab Japaridze, Tsitlidze said the current political environment rendered elections meaningless, claiming that outcomes were predetermined under the rule of the Georgian Dream party.

“The main goal of the opposition now should not be to talk about participating in this special operation, but rather to mobilise active citizens of Georgia so that the resistance movement grows,” Tsitlidze said. “This is the only thing that will overthrow the regime, which the citizens of Georgia have the right to do.”

She also said the country faced a binary choice - “either you are Russian and you are on the Georgian Dream side, or you are Georgian.” Tsitlidze argued that unity among opposition forces should be based on fundamental principles, not electoral ambitions.

She also pushed back against past criticism that called for opposition unity reflected weakness, insisting recent events had shown why a common front was necessary. “We must agree on one thing - no real change can happen through local elections under this regime,” she said. “Only resistance can bring about a turning point.”