Federalists’ Chergoleishvili: I spend time among people, and frankly, nobody cares less whether we opposition politicians are arrested or not

“I go out among the people; I spent ten days in Kutaisi, and a week in Poti and Khobi. Frankly, nobody cares less whether we opposition politicians are arrested or not,” Tamar Chergoleishvili, leader of the Federalists party, declared on PalitraNews.

According to her, the public cannot be drawn into politics unless their actual problems are addressed.

“Until 2024, what we saw was a single leader and a division into the United National Movement and Georgian Dream. This was entirely Georgian Dream’s scenario, and the Georgian people shattered it in the rigged 2024 elections when they divided the opposition landscape into four comparable quarters, with the parties finishing roughly neck and neck. The Georgian public dictated through the protests we have witnessed, which essentially began in 2020 and are still ongoing, that the opposition must reset, rebuild from the bottom up, and represent the people’s interests so that this leadership crisis can be resolved; so that the people can find leaders in the political spectrum who truly champion and protect their causes. Look at the banners carried at the protests; they feature the First Republic, and historical heroes are brought back to life. Aside from a few staged instances showcasing Misha [Saakashvili] banners, the rest are not about political leaders. The entire protest movement is about our historical memory and, in a way, our identity.

Political parties have nothing to do with it, and arresting their leaders will do absolutely nothing to suppress this. I go out among the people; I spent ten days in Kutaisi, and a week in Poti and Khobi. Frankly, nobody cares less whether we opposition politicians are arrested or not. For anyone to actually feel sorry if I were locked up tomorrow, I should be speaking out about their struggles, and I should be arrested in that very process; so they think, ‘She was incarcerated because she wanted to solve my problems’—that would be a better alternative. That is what they need to see,” Chergoleishvili stated.

When asked whether it was ‘normal that almost all Alliance leaders, except you, could end up in prison,’ Chergoleishvili replied:

“Of course, it is not normal, and this absurdity will continue unless we bring the public into politics. But we cannot bring people into politics if we do not talk about the issues that affect them, rather than obsessing over the issues that affect us. We must bring the public into the political fold. This leadership crisis cannot be resolved, and people will not choose their leaders if no one is actually talking to them,” Chergoleishvili concluded.