Paata Manjgaladze, a member of the opposition Strategy Aghmashenebeli party, proposes having primaries as the “most democratic mechanism” for determining the order of opposition party members on the election list.

According to Manjgaladze, the principal emphasis on the unified list must be on concepts, beliefs, and the ability to make joint decisions.

The ruling Georgian Dream reacted quickly. Georgian parliament Vice Speaker Archil Talakvadze believes that by talking about primaries, the radical opposition is attempting to conceal the internal conflict and split.

The opposition’s popularity among voters is so low that no matter what strategy they employ, they will fail, GD’s Davit Matikashvili stated, claiming the opposition “barely has any pulse” in terms of elections.

A member of the For Georgia party, Ana Buchukuri, deemed the primaries as “an attempt to stage a masquerade” in the opposition that would serve the ruling Georgian Dream party’s interests.

Nika Melia, chair of the United National Movement party, similarly rejected that idea, claiming that while his party would undoubtedly defeat all others, the outcome would be detrimental to the common goal. He feels that holding the primaries now will bring the opposition, rather than the government, to a halt.

As for holding the primaries to arrange the party lists, it is like “cooking a hare before catching him.” Roman Gotsiridze, a member of the National Movement party, believes similar initiatives are hardly noteworthy.

“The primary notion is that the opposition should have one electoral number, one opposition list, but not all parties will be chosen from this list to go out as one bloc, even if the bloc is not required by law. We oppose the concept of lumping everyone together,” Gotsiridze stated.