Parliamentary Majority Leader: Opposition’s so-called protest momentum collapsed after foreign funding was restricted

Georgia’s parliamentary majority leader Irakli Kirtskhalia has claimed that opposition-led protests have lost momentum following restrictions on foreign funding, accusing opposition groups of relying on external financial support to sustain their political activities.

Speaking at Georgian Dream headquarters following a parliamentary majority meeting, Kirtskhalia commented on Sunday’s opposition-organized rally, claiming that the decline in protest participation demonstrated the impact of restrictions on foreign funding.

“After foreign funding for the agent network was restricted — hundreds of millions of euros or dollars — we saw how the so-called momentum they kept talking about simply collapsed and disappeared,” Kirtskhalia said.

He alleged that the opposition’s protest activities had been driven entirely by external instructions and what he described as illicit funding.

According to Kirtskhalia, some members of the public had been misled by opposition groups and their alleged foreign backers through what he called false narratives and fabricated political scenarios.

“There was a certain segment of society that they, together with their patrons and those directing them, misled through false perceptions and fabricated scenarios. And what did they do afterwards?” he said.

Referring to the proceedings currently underway at Georgia’s Constitutional Court, Kirtskhalia accused opposition parties of disregarding the electoral mandates they received in the 2024 parliamentary elections.

“The process currently taking place at the Constitutional Court clearly demonstrates what happened after the 2024 parliamentary elections. Through each of their actions, as was thoroughly and consistently explained today, they effectively tore up and discarded the mandates granted to them by the public, reducing that trust to nothing,” he said.

Kirtskhalia added that although some opposition groups subsequently entered parliament, they continued what he described as a policy of non-recognition and obstruction.

Commenting on attendance at Sunday’s demonstration, the parliamentary majority leader said the relatively small turnout at a rally jointly organized by five groups he characterized as foreign-backed networks was nothing new.