Lelo’s “negative campaign” targeting Ivanishvili – Parliament Speaker

Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, on Thursday claimed the “ongoing campaign of threats” by Lelo opposition party and its leader Mamuka Khazaradze, “personally targeted” Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Papuashvili highlighted that Khazaradze’s recent communications seem to carry veiled threats, designed to insinuate rather than state overtly. “This is a veiled threat, which should not seem direct, but it is a fact that such perceptions should be created by such a black campaign,” he said. 

Papuashvili further pointed out that Khazaradze’s recent activities amount to what appears to be a campaign directed personally against Ivanishvili, who announced his third political comeback at the end of the last year as the GD honorary chair. ” Khazaradze has launched a campaign of threats against Ivanishvili personally,” Papuashvili asserted, referencing Khazaradze’s frequent social media posts, some of which, he claimed, depict visually threatening content.

In response to Khazaradze’s ambitions for political power, Papuashvili adopted a dismissive stance, characterizing the Lelo party as a marginal political force. “The issue of Khazaradze’s personality is clear. 

 

He is a businessman from the time of bandit Georgia, who became a millionaire by joining the Communist Party,” Papuashvili remarked.He further noted it was “comical” Lelo, as he said with a two percent public approval rating” had an ambition to win the October 26 parliamentary elections.