Georgian Dream party confident in victory in local elections, says Parliament Speaker

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday expressed unwavering confidence in the ruling Georgian Dream party's prospects for the upcoming local elections scheduled for October.

In his remarks over the matter, Papuashvili asserted that the ruling party was poised to secure victory in all 64 municipalities across Georgia.

His remarks come on the backdrop of a planned opposition boycott of the elections. When questioned about the opposition's decision, Papuashvili stated that “we know one thing, that the Georgian Dream [party] will participate in the local elections and win in all 64 municipalities. This is our goal”.

“In every election since 2012, including 2012, the opposition has consistently lost while chanting 'Russian, Russian'. And here, we see them doing the same thing. It turns out that the millions spent on NGOs and certain parties were spent on ensuring that if they take a piece of paper and write 20 words, 7 of them will be 'Russia'. The funders seem to be satisfied with this. Apparently, the only indicator of project implementation nowadays is how many times they say 'Russia', 'Kremlin', and so on. The NGOs are happy to receive money for this, and the donors are happy to hear these words”, the Parliament Speaker said.

He also expressed his desire for “extremist organisations” to abstain from the elections, arguing that their absence would benefit Georgian democracy by preventing voters from accidentally casting ballots for extremist parties.