Georgian Parliament official welcomes presidential pardon initiative, urges opposition to join election race

Levan Machavariani, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party and Deputy Chair of the parliamentary faction of the ruling party, on Saturday voiced support for Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili’s initiative, offering pardons to convicted opposition leaders if they express a desire to run in the upcoming local self-government elections.

In his remarks, Machavariani emphasised that the President’s offer served to eliminate speculation - particularly from international actors - that opposition leaders were imprisoned due to their high public ratings.

“This, of course, stems from the need to leave no room for speculation that the Georgian Dream [party] allegedly detained them due to their high ratings, as is being discussed in the West, despite everyone knowing they violated the law”, Machavariani said.

The official argued that if opposition leaders decline the pardon, it could suggest they fear poor electoral performance.

“The initiative by Mr. Kavelashvili regarding pardons is welcome. The ball is now in the opposition’s court. If they agree to the proposal, they will have the opportunity to fully participate in the election campaign. However, if they do not agree to this proposal, the only logical explanation would be that they voluntarily entered detention facilities because they are afraid to participate in these elections, knowing in advance the results they will get, and they want to justify those results by saying they were in detention and couldn’t conduct a full-fledged election campaign. Let them kindly accept this proposal, participate in the election campaign, and show our population what support they enjoy in Georgia today”, he concluded.