More than three months have passed since the parliamentary elections in Georgia. The official winner is the party “Georgian Dream“, which has been in power since 2012 – it received 89 of the 150 parliamentary seats. However, there were violations in the elections, as noted by some international organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
That is why the opposition parties do not recognize the results, they speak of fraud and are boycotting the new parliament. In this way, 49 deputies lost their mandates because they themselves refused them.
What is the purpose of the boycott?
Many Georgians also do not accept the election results and are protesting together with the opposition. The protests began after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced in November 2024 that he was postponing Georgia's European integration until 2028. The opposition is demanding new elections, continued European integration, and the release of arrested protesters.
“The strategic goal of the boycott is to challenge the legitimacy of the government. If it manipulated the elections, it has no right to exercise state power. This is what the majority of the Georgian people think, and this is visible in the streets, where people have been protesting en masse for months“, says Elene Khoshtaria, chairwoman of the “Droa“ party from the “Coalition for Change“. She is convinced that the government has no support among the people.
Petre Tsiskarishvili, Secretary General of the United National Movement party, whose election results allowed him to enter parliament, also resigned from his parliamentary mandate. He claims that Georgian Dream manipulated the elections and tried to intimidate civil society with the help of street gangs and the police. According to him, everyone in the country knows that these elections were neither free nor fair.
“And neither from a moral nor a political point of view is it permissible to sit in the same plenary hall with these people just because we received ten percent of the votes,” says Tsiskarishvili. He points out that parties that do not enter parliament no longer receive state funding. “Therefore, the only platform that remains is protests, meetings with voters in cities and regions, as well as independent media and social networks that are still functioning. But they will also be put under pressure by the authorities“, Tsiskarishvili is convinced.
The parliament is de facto one-party
Meanwhile, due to the boycott by the opposition forces, “Georgian Dream“ has de facto gained full control of the parliament and has begun to implement its agenda. In recent months, a number of laws have been adopted, some of which are facing criticism at home and abroad.
The Georgian parliament first elected a new president - former football player Mikhail Kavelashvili, considered “convenient”. The previous president, Salome Zurabishvili, was constantly involved in disputes with “Georgian Dream“ and vetoed the party's proposed laws.
For example, it was against the Law on "Foreign Influence", which in the summer of 2024 tightened measures against non-governmental organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad - and has already begun to require much stricter accountability from them. Opponents of the law fear that, like a similar law in Russia, it will silence critical organizations. On March 4, the measures were tightened even further - they now apply not only to organizations, but also to ordinary citizens.
"Repressive" decisions
The opposition also defines other decisions of the Georgian parliament as repressive. For example, the participation of non-governmental and public organizations in government decision-making is no longer mandatory. Amendments to other laws provide for restrictions on media that receive funding from abroad. In addition, the term "gender" was removed from the Gender Equality Law.
Following clashes between police and demonstrators during pro-European protests, masks and fireworks were banned. In addition, penalties for "petty hooliganism" and "disobedience to the police" were increased. The leader of the "Georgian Dream" faction, Mamuka Mdinaradze, announced that national treason would be reinstated as a criminal offense in the Criminal Code - after it was abolished in 2007 during the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili.
"The boycott is justified, but the strategy does not work"
Political scientist Gela Vazadze described the Georgian parliament as a “crazy printing house“ to the DW. Laws are being passed one after another, aimed at establishing an authoritarian regime in the country. “The parliament has become an instrument for the legalization of repressive measures, which “Georgian Dream“ began to use in its previous mandates. Apparently, the state authorities believe that they are following a global trend under the motto “This is commonplace today”, says Vazadze.
According to the expert, the boycott of parliamentary activity by the opposition is fair, but the strategy is not effective. “A boycott does not change anything in what is happening. "The government continues to turn into an authoritarian regime and completely ignores the opposition," Vazadze points out, and states that without an opposition in parliament, government representatives will feel even more comfortable.