Georgian Parliament Speaker says opposition’s “offside trap” strategy backfires ahead of local elections

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday said the domestic opposition and its foreign allies had miscalculated in their attempts to corner the Georgian Government, comparing their failed strategy to a football offside trap that backfires and allows the opponent to score easily.

In a social media message, Papuashvili noted that for almost a year now, the opposition’s and its foreign allies’ tactic against the elected Government had been one of deliberate snub, “which was to put the Georgian authorities in a position of tactical impasse”.

Instead, he said, the Georgian Dream party was about to win another municipal election, which part of the opposition had boycotted, relying on an unconstitutional and dangerous strategy of violent toppling of the Government.

“We are observing this failed maneuver in Georgian politics now, masterminded by some of foreign actors and, as usual, badly executed by the Georgian opposition”, the Speaker said.

Papuashvili further added that the foreigners’ conviction of the opposition’s victory had turned out to be false.

“Their campaign of portraying the elections as a watershed, a referendum and calls for Georgians to come out and vote did work, albeit the voters who showed up were, in fact, the great silent majority of our population, who understood the real content of referendum and voted for Georgian Dream and for Georgia’s peaceful and prosperous future, not the violent and troublesome past associated with the opposition”, he continued.

The Speaker recalled that this cycle began with the opposition’s refusal to recognise the October 2024 parliamentary election results, despite winning 61 out of 150 mandates.

He emphasised that foreign allies wrongly assumed an opposition victory and engaged in “synchronized political messaging, financial backing of foreign-funded NGOs, and even direct participation in the electoral campaign”, actions he described as violations of diplomatic norms.

“Since the foreigners associated themselves with the opposition so openly, then they had to own the opposition’s defeat. The shock was so unexpected and the extent of cognitive dissonance was so great that they decided to deny the reality and embark on a policy of sabotaging the newly elected Parliament. This was all too irrational because the opposition received 61 out of the total of 150 mandates, which would have been a significant force to reckon with in the Parliament. However, part of the opposition chose to reject the people’s trust and abandon the seats in the Parliament”, Papuashvili noted.

“Election denialism then started a vicious cycle: it inspired parliamentary sabotage, and the sabotage was followed by the refusal to participate in this year’s municipal elections. Moreover, they threatened to foil the election process too. But the offside trap misfired. The plans to disrupt the elections failed. The elections are taking place in due time. Two out of four opposition parties that cleared the election threshold in 2024 are now participating in elections but stand no chance of scoring any significant victories. Georgian Dream is poised to score a full electoral victory”, the Speaker said.

Looking ahead, the Speaker described the municipal elections as a “moment of reckoning”, offering the opposition and its foreign backers an opportunity to respect Georgia’s sovereignty, re-enter the political process, and end what he called a “vicious cycle of denial and sabotage.

“We must capture the zeitgeist of ending the wars and international confrontation. Georgia’s October 4 elections offer a litmus test and a great opportunity for those who come to Georgia in good faith for ending the vicious cycle of confrontation and non-cooperation, for ‘to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven… A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together’”, Papuashvili concluded.