Tbilisi Mayor urges opposition to compete in local elections

Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze has called on opposition parties to participate in the upcoming local elections this autumn, saying the electoral process will determine who truly has public support.

“Participate in the local elections and we will see who has a chance and who will win,” Kaladze told journalists, responding to questions about the opposition's potential boycott. “I have said it many times and will repeat it again: we have delivered successful projects, and I do not recall initiatives of this scale in the capital since 2017.”

The mayor, a leading figure in the ruling Georgian Dream party, cited a series of large-scale developments in Tbilisi as evidence of the government's performance and added that preparations for the elections were already underway.

Kaladze dismissed concerns over the United National Movement’s (UNM) negative stance toward the elections, referring to the party as a "radical grouping" and claimed he had no interest in debating their participation.

“I do not want to enter into a polemic on the issue of their or any other political party's participation or non-participation in the elections. This is not my interest,” Kaladze said. “There are many challenges in the capital and across the regions. These require concrete responses and new projects that will shape the coming years.”

Commenting on the state of the opposition more broadly, the mayor criticised what he described as an “externally influenced” alliance of parties, many of whom he claimed have roots in the UNM.

“Years ago, they were individuals within the National Movement who later distanced themselves, pretending to have no connection with the party. This was an attempt to mislead the public,” Kaladze said. “But if you analyse who is who, it all leads back to the National Movement  - that dirty and criminal organization that ruled the country until 2012.”