Lelo and For Georgia Sign Pre-Election Pact, Break Ranks with Opposition Boycott
By Liza Mchedlidze
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Two opposition parties, Lelo/Strong Georgia and For Georgia, announced a cooperation agreement ahead of the October 4 local elections, breaking with the broader opposition movement that is largely boycotting the vote.
Leaders from both parties signed a memorandum on July 14, pledging not to compete against each other and to coordinate on candidates.
"We must exclude competition between us," said Berdia Sichinava of For Georgia, the party led by former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia. "We will try to agree on common candidates for mayors," he said, adding they would prioritize "non-partisan" or "neutral" figures but were also open to fielding joint party nominees. The same strategy, he said, would apply to majoritarian candidates.
Irakli Kupradze of Lelo/Strong Georgia said the agreement reflects public expectations. "Today, we have agreed on the basic principles of cooperation," he told reporters. "This cooperation is exactly the key demand our citizens have," he said, describing the signed memorandum as a "compromised" but meaningful step toward unity.
While most opposition parties have refused to participate in the elections, arguing that doing so legitimizes what they view as an undemocratic process, Lelo and For Georgia say they are determined to challenge the ruling Georgian Dream party, especially in urban areas where the ruling party's support is seen as weaker.
The Lelo-led bloc, now made up of Lelo and the Citizens' party after the recent departure of Freedom Square and Ana Dolidze's For People, confirmed its decision to run on July 5. That move triggered the resignation of three members of the party's political council, although they have not left the party.
In a recent interview with Palitranews, Aleko Elisashvili, leader of the Citizens' party, floated the idea of uniting the opposition behind 5th President Salome Zourabichvili as a potential mayoral candidate in Tbilisi. Zourabichvili, however, has publicly rejected the electoral process as illegitimate.
"There are no elections," Zourabichvili said on July 9. She accused Georgian Dream of using the vote to divide the opposition and distract from wider political mobilization. She has instead called for unity through her Resistance Platform, urging expanded protest action and a broader boycott.
Lelo's top leaders, Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, remain in jail after refusing to testify before the parliamentary Tsulukiani Commission, which was set up by Georgian Dream to investigate alleged wrongdoing by former officials.
Georgia's leader Giorgi Gakharia, who previously served as both Prime Minister and Interior Minister under Georgian Dream, is currently abroad. He is under investigation for his role in the 2019 crackdown on anti-Russian protests and the Chorchana checkpoint case.
