How Local Elections Fueled Georgia’s Political Firestorm
In many countries, local elections have much lower stakes than national elections. However, in the country of Georgia, local elections last month sparked mass protests, with demonstrators waving EU and Georgian flags amidst the ongoing political turmoil gripping the country. At the center is an embattled governing party desperately trying to maintain its power despite being widely regarded as anti-democratic. Until recently, Georgia was a hopeful aspirant to the EU, but the Georgian government has since suspended the nation’s candidacy.
Georgia’s political turmoil is nothing new, but its current phase began with the country’s 2024 parliamentary elections. International election observers expressed concern about their validity, raising serious doubts about whether they could be considered free or fair. Reports allege voter intimidation, ballot stuffing, and other inconsistencies that benefited the ruling Georgian Dream party who claimed victory. The country’s president, Salome Zourabichvili, sided with the opposition, decrying the elections as ‘totally falsified.’ The previously fractured opposition was then unified, thanks to widespread public outcry following the announcement that Georgia would be suspending its candidacy to join the EU.
The primary target of these protests is the Georgian Dream party, which has ruled the country since 2012. The party’s ideology was originally pro-Western, aspiring to join the EU, but has gradually turned towards Euroscepticism and a more pro-Russian stance. Georgian Dream has been accused of being the driving force behind democratic backsliding, consolidating government power, and undermining checks and balances in the country. They faced further backlash for passing a ‘foreign agents’ law akin to one passed in Russia that targets organisations that receive foreign funding. The party finds itself in a similar situation to other long-ruling parties, maintaining power and eroding democratic institutions despite mass opposition, such as Fidesz in Hungary or the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey.
President Zourabichvili, a political independent, painted herself as an opponent to Georgian Dream, instead advocating for Georgia to move closer towards the European Union. In 2017, Georgian Dream altered the constitution to change the election of the President from popular vote to an electoral college model. When the next election for President occurred in December 2024, there was only one candidate: Georgian Dream nominee Mikheil Kavelashvili, who was elected almost unanimously by a mostly Georgian Dream electoral college. Zourabichvili branded the election as illegitimate and stated she would stay in office until a new election could elect a legitimate successor. She maintains a high popularity in Georgia, particularly amongst an otherwise disunified opposition movement.
Local elections were held in Georgia on 4 October 2025 to elect members of local government and mayors across the country. Several opposition parties opted to boycott the elections, though the parties Lelo for Georgia and For Georgia opted to participate despite widespread assumptions that the elections would not be fair. Throughout the run-up to the election, many opposition leaders faced arrest or fled the country. Without a unified front, it is hard for the Georgian political opposition to gather the public support or momentum necessary to topple the government led by Georgian Dream. The local elections saw a historically low turnout and resulted in a landslide victory for Georgian Dream, which received over 80% of the vote.
Protests occurred before the elections and intensified at the behest of the opposition, centered in the capital, Tbilisi. Georgian opera singer Paata Burchuladze gave a keynote address at one such protest on election night, calling for a peaceful overthrow of the Georgian Dream government before being arrested. Burchuladze’s fiery address was followed by an attempt by protesters to storm the presidential palace. Police used tear gas and water cannons to repel protesters. These clashes represent an escalation in resistance to Georgian Dream, with Prime Minister and Georgian Dream Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze vowing prosecutions of those involved in what he described as an ‘attempted coup.’
Georgian Dream has since launched a crackdown on opposition parties to mitigate their influence. Party officials have asked the country’s Constitutional Court to ban the major opposition parties for leading what they claim was a foreign-backed attempt to overthrow the government. If the Constitutional Court rules in favor of Georgian Dream, this could mean a death knell for what semblance of Georgian democracy remains. Banning opposition parties, however, will not end the protest movement, which has been growing over the last few years. In fact, it may inflame resistance at home and abroad.
Local elections, which would often receive little to no international news coverage, have once again turned the spotlight on Georgia. With Georgian Dream seemingly able to weather sustained mass protests, it remains to be seen whether the party will further consolidate power or if the tide will turn toward the opposition. Time will tell whether Georgia will become another case of a promising democratising country slipping back towards authoritarianism or will reverse the trend of democracy’s global decline. If the democratic world wishes to empower the Georgian opposition and prevent the nation from descending into authoritarianism, there is still time, but that time is running out.
Image courtesy of Jelger Groeneveld via Wikimedia Commons, ©2024. Some rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the wider St. Andrews Foreign Affairs Review team.
