“We cannot match Magyar, nor do we have any desire or motivation to do so. Let everyone speak to our people in their own voice. Hungary is Hungary, and Georgia is Georgia. Regardless of the lessons that experience may offer, we still live in Georgia and must work within the conditions and the reality we have here,” said MP Giorgi Sharashidze, member of the Gakharia for Georgia party.

He added that any revolutionary scenario is categorically unacceptable to his party.

“If it comes to it, we are prepared for far more prolonged, laborious, and arduous political work than certain opposition parties, who, unlike us, are in a great hurry for results. They have no appetite whatsoever for the kind of protracted, fierce confrontation and struggle in which we, for example, are engaged. This long struggle has one overriding value: it serves the cause of peaceful change, the idea of replacing any government through elections. It is precisely from this that entirely irresponsible boycott campaigns spring, and I mean the boycotting of elections. I shall say nothing further about the scenarios for a peaceful coup on October 4 and the like, scenarios which, on the one hand, are presented by certain sections of the opposition as an alternative to peaceful change, yet on the other, we see them doing precisely the opposite: damaging the opposition and strengthening Georgian Dream, which was itself an instigator and provocateur of the so-called fake revolution of October 4,” Sharashidze stated.

Sharashidze rejected any attempt to link religious institutions to political objectives.

“On the subject of the Church, it is utterly beyond my comprehension, and wholly unacceptable to me, how anyone can take a purely religious institution, a sacred temple and a matter of personal faith, first and foremost for all of us, and tie it in any way to their political ends. Those who find this entirely natural can share their views on the topic. We have our own path; our strategy is entirely different, and it will lead us to victory without fail. What is more, that victory will carry far greater worth than any rapid change. It appears that this section of the opposition cannot grasp, cannot imagine, and has no will for the prolonged and painstaking struggle in which we are engaged. Everyone has their own strategy. Ours is to care for the everyday needs of our country’s citizens, using peaceful political instruments,” Sharashidze stated.

For context, United National Movement Chair Tina Bokuchava has stated: “Unfortunately, we also have a problem with our collective message; we make no effort to show citizens that we are not godless unbelievers, and we make no effort to enter that arena.”

Additionally, Tamar Chergoleishvili, Chair of the Federalists party, has stated that “the very strategy that delivered Magyar his victory in Hungary has already been written into the strategic agreement signed by nine opposition parties. A new government will without question be elected through the ballot box, but only after we have defeated the current regime before the elections and secured such an overwhelming advantage beforehand that the regime will be unable to rig the result.”