“If you say Georgian Dream must be overthrown, then at the very least you should have been at that rally,” stated Aleksandre Rakviashvili, one of the leaders of the Girchi party, on GPB First Channel’s programme “Topic of the Day”.

“This is precisely what political accountability means, and journalists should demand it, and deceived voters should demand it. And when they receive no answer, why should I explain? What do I know about why they say these things? But didn’t they say ‘we support this’? Didn’t they say ‘we’ll defeat them on the 4th’? Didn’t it turn out that someone actually went home rather early, I think, before anything significant even began there?

I’ve no idea what was happening inside the United National Movement in this instance, but yes, this too is a question of political accountability. I simply hope that once the shock subsides, the segment of the electorate who believed this, refrained from voting because of it, and who placed their hopes in it, will take a moment to reflect. From what I observe in general perception, I think there’s shock; many haven’t even accepted reality yet,” Rakviashvili stated.

With this statement, Sandro Rakviashvili responded to the programme host’s question regarding how he explains the fact that, on October 4, when arrests of leaders and organisers had already begun, representatives of one of the rally’s main supporting parties, including its leaders, were not present. The party chairman [UNM Chair] completely avoided the situation and refused to answer the question of who is responsible for those injured, the damaged infrastructure, and so on.

According to him, on election day, opposition television stations adopted revolutionary rhetoric, and the opposition’s stance on election day was rooted in the notion of an ongoing revolution.

When the host, Tamta Sanikidze, asked how the finale of October 4 affected the opposition flank, whether it damaged them in this process, and on the other hand, how this reflects on the protests taking place after last November, Sandro Rakviashvili stated that whilst it may not be apparent, only Girchi remains in the opposition field as a party.

“I think the electorate will soon see that the other parties simply no longer exist, if they ever did. If Khazaradze understands anything, he should leave politics. Imagine: a billionaire poured in all that money; his television station, to which he paid millions, betrayed him on election day and switched to propaganda against him. He spent millions, and yet both we and Lelo [Khazaradze’s party] have two people on the Tbilisi City Council [Sakrebulo], whereas we spent just a few tens of thousands on advertising.

The disparity between resources and results is, simply, not serious. Moreover, the opposite should have occurred; two major opposition parties didn’t run in the elections, and in a normal situation everyone should have had twice, three times higher results. Only we actually improved our results, and in reality, if we look pragmatically, we grew stronger in these elections,” Rakviashvili stated.

Sandro Rakviashvili also stated that Gakharia no longer exists as a party, as judged by their results. The United National Movement quite rightly bears responsibility for the defeat of October 4, and there’s an expectation that people who are in prison, and those who escaped responsibility, will emerge, and someone will take it upon themselves to gather United National Movement voters and give them some new form.

“In reality, right now, at this moment, no political parties exist apart from us. These are the final days, or perhaps the final weeks, of their existence; that’s the impression I have. The boycott harmed everyone. But we were affected the least of all. Because, honestly, what can I say, we managed to get people onto Sakrebulos in every major city, and in many regions we secured more votes than last year,” Rakviashvili stated.

According to him, what happened at the rally was revenge dispatched by the organisers.

“What happened at the rally? They came out and read: ‘We must arrest Bidzina Ivanishvili, Mdinaradze, Kobakhidze, Tsulukiani, and some others’. What did this mean? It meant there wouldn’t even be a trial. Did they say ‘let’s put them on trial’? Did they say ‘we’ll create a court and then try them’? No. They said, ‘We’re ready, we know these people must be dealt with by lynching law.’ So, what message did the rally supported by the United National Movement broadcast? That it’s about revenge, isn’t it? What drumbeat was that crowd marching to when they went there? That it should be revenge, right? How can one enter politics driven by a desire for revenge and still win over supporters of Georgian Dream? And if you can’t win them over, how do you win when there are a million voters on that side?” Rakviashvili stated.