Georgia’s ruling party official claims foreign actors preparing new opposition reshuffle ahead of 2028 elections

Levan Machavariani, the First Deputy Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream parliamentary faction, on Monday accused most opposition parties of being controlled by foreign actors, alleging that new efforts to reshape the opposition landscape would be made ahead of the 2028 elections.

In a social media message, Machavariani claimed external forces had sought to diversify the opposition by artificially creating new political parties, including Akhali, Lelo and former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia’s party.

He said another reshuffling of what he described as an “agent network” began ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections, with the primary objective of creating maximum distance between opposition parties and the United National Movement in order to attract “neutral” and undecided voters.

“After foreign powers became convinced that it was impossible to wash away the bloody past of the National Movement itself, and that by betting solely on it they had lost every election to the Georgian people, they artificially created several new parties”, Machavariani said.

He cited Gakharia’s party as an example, claiming it was brought back into politics after a 43-percent threshold was set for Georgian Dream in the 2021 local elections through the mediation of Charles Michel.

Machavariani further alleged that Gakharia had presented himself to Georgian Dream supporters as a political project of Bidzina Ivanishvili.

According to the ruling party official, foreign actors were forced to “radically change” their approach after Gakharia openly formed coalitions with the National Movement in four municipalities following the 2021 elections.

“For the crucial 2024 elections, another reshuffling of the agent network began. Lelo and Gakharia’s party had to be maximally separated from the ‘collective National Movement’ and used to attract the so-called neutral and undecided voters. At the same time, the National Movement and its direct affiliates were supposed to work with radical voters, Lelo’s segment was supposed to be ‘semi-radical’, while Gakharia’s party was supposed to position itself as a ‘supposedly constructive’ force”, he said.

“In order to guarantee the full retention of the National Movement’s radical voters, the Akhali party was also created. This was how the agent network operating under a single chain of command was maximally diversified”, he continued.

Machavariani claimed that ahead of the 2025 elections, the “minimum objective” was to continue separating Lelo and Gakharia’s party from the “collective National Movement”, while the “maximum objective” was a “revolution” planned for October 4.

He argued this was demonstrated by the fact that Gakharia’s party was instructed to use its parliamentary mandates only after what he described as the planned October 4 “revolution” had failed.

According to Machavariani, two issues - Georgia’s law on transparency and the law on what he described as “anti-LGBT propaganda” - were so important to foreign actors that they mobilised the entire opposition network, resulting in what he called its “full exposure”.

“The result of the 2025 elections was of lesser importance to the foreign patrons of the agents. The minimum objective was to continue separating Lelo and Gakharia from the collective National Movement, while the maximum objective was the October 4 revolution”, Machavariani said.

He further claimed that other opposition groups had been instructed to boycott the elections, while only Lelo and Gakharia’s party were permitted to participate in order to create the impression that they were pursuing independent political agendas.

Machavariani also commented on the parties’ positions regarding the October 4 protests, describing Lelo’s decision to vote in the morning and attend an anti-government protest in the evening as “semi-radical”, while characterising Gakharia’s refusal to join the demonstration as “supposedly constructive”.

He additionally claimed that Lelo had been instructed to relinquish its parliamentary mandates alongside the National Movement and Akhali, while Gakharia’s party was directed to retain its seats.

According to Machavariani, two weeks after the failure of the October 4 protests, Gakharia’s party officially announced its intention to enter parliament.

He said another step in separating Lelo and Gakharia’s party from the “collective National Movement” was the creation of a so-called opposition alliance in March.

“According to the plans of the foreign patrons, these parties were supposed to remain outside the so-called alliance, while the agent parties participating in the alliance were supposed to create artificial noise”, he said.

Machavariani argued that the strategy resulted in radical parties grouped within the alliance attracting public attention, while Lelo, which he described as “semi-radical”, and Gakharia’s party, which he labelled “supposedly constructive”, remained outside the spotlight.

He also referred to the transparency law and the law on “anti-LGBT propaganda”, claiming the former restricted the ability of external actors to channel what he described as “black money” into Georgian politics and reduced their capacity to finance opposition groups.

He said the latter law established the existence of two sexes and prohibited LGBT “propaganda”, including its introduction into schools and kindergartens.

According to Machavariani, foreign actors considered the promotion of what he called an “ultra-liberal ideology” so important that even Gakharia’s party had been placed on the side of LGBT “propaganda” alongside radical and semi-radical opposition groups.

“Our citizens have clearly identified all these configurations of the agent opposition. This is also demonstrated by the fact that Lelo’s voter support was cut in half, while Gakharia’s was reduced by two-thirds in 2025 compared with the 2024 elections”, Machavariani said.

“Until 2028, external forces will offer us new reshuffling schemes. However, they should not forget that they face court proceedings concerning the banning of their agent parties”, he concluded.