“We doubled the percentage of supporters because it is a political truth that local elections are compared to previous local elections,” said Grigol Gegelia, a member of the Lelo-Strong Georgia party.

According to Gegelia, no one but a demagogue compares municipal elections with parliamentary elections “in a civilized world, including Georgia.”

“One should not compare elections with low voter turnout to those with high levels of engagement. Therefore, it is more appropriate to compare the 2025 elections with those of 2021, and in the case of parliamentary elections, to compare 2024 with 2020. Looking at the results from 2021, we can see that in 2025, we have doubled the percentage of our supporters despite the efforts of some opposition parties to bribe voters and conduct anti-campaigns, which is, regrettably, part of their strategy,” he said.

Responding to the question on secured votes in the October 4 local elections, Gegelia remarked that the Lelo “did not deserve such results.”

“Of course, we did not deserve this percentage of votes. The elections were rigged with mass manipulation, which I observed in my precinct.

However, it is crucial that the manipulative tricks of the Georgian Dream do not yield the desired result. What is the desired result for them? The desirable result for the GD is to kill politics in this country with no other parties, no political process that would uncover Ivanishvili’s regime. I will never do what Ivanishvili wishes,” he stated.