Grigol Gegelia, a member of the opposition Lelo party, has said, “The regime will not gain legitimacy from potential participation in local self-government elections.”

Speaking about the European Parliament’s annual report, Gegelia said it discusses how the Georgian people should use every lever “to restore their hijacked homeland.”

“I call on all colleagues to consider whether opening one more new battlefield would be right in this country to achieve those main goals – defeating Ivanishvili’s regime and restoring the country’s Euro-Atlantic integration,” he stated.

“This is our proposal and we hope we will have a substantive discussion of the matter, instead of the hysteria which we unfortunately witnessed in recent days.”

The Lelo member said they had no problem with diversity of opinion and forms of pluralism.

“What the European parliamentarians are saying – that every lever should be used to restore the state and this does not mean legitimising the regime – I think is obvious to everyone,” he said.

Gegelia highlighted that European parliamentarians had stated they still recognise Salome Zourabichvili as president and do not recognise the parliamentary elections or the government that came to power through these elections.

“However, at the same time, they consider it acceptable for the struggle to actually take place in Georgia through this possible platform as well,” he said. “Therefore, this clearly shows us that the regime will have no legitimacy whatsoever from possible participation in elections.”

The statement comes after the European Parliament published a press release regarding its annual report on Georgia, saying “the upcoming municipal elections in 2025 are another test of the resilience of Georgia’s democracy and political pluralism. As a result, MEPs call on the country’s opposition to seize this opportunity to reflect the unity of the Georgian people in support of democracy and the rule of law, as already demonstrated by the peaceful protests that followed October’s elections.”