Lelo Calls for ‘Responsible Political Dialogue’ with Georgian Dream, Faces Pushback

2026-03-16 - 09:55

The opposition Lelo/Strong Georgia party has called for launching “responsible political negotiations” between the ruling Georgian Dream party and those opposition forces it said won the support of “the majority of Georgia’s population” in the 2024 parliamentary elections, apparently referring to the four parties and coalitions, including itself, that passed the mandatory 5-percent threshold. While saying that such a “wide political dialogue” is important for the country to overcome its domestic political crisis, the party added that a “peaceful, democratic and state-centered” way out of the crisis would be agreeing on “new, free and fair parliamentary elections” and the release of “political prisoners.” The wider opposition coalition of nine parties, which does not include Lelo, as the party had declined to join forces with them, appears to be rejecting the suggestion to start talks with Georgian Dream amid its stated strategy of non-recognition and non-cooperation with the ruling party. Georgian Dream also appears unwilling to agree to Lelo’s initiative. In a March 15 statement, Lelo/Strong Georgia said, “Georgia today needs political stability, national consolidation, and a political system with strong democratic legitimacy,” adding that the country needs what it called “a broad political dialogue, oriented toward defusing the country’s internal political crisis, with the active involvement of representatives of an extremely polarized society.” “It is necessary to overcome the destructive logic of mutual confrontation and mutual destruction, and to start responsible political negotiations between Georgian Dream and those opposition parties that won the support of the majority of Georgia’s population in the 2024 parliamentary elections, despite the undemocratic conduct of the elections and the falsification of official results by Georgian Dream.” The statement largely focused on the “extremely difficult geopolitical situation” around Georgia, warning that the domestic political crisis “reduces the country’s ability to respond effectively to external threats.” “Georgia’s security, stability, and development are impossible without strong international support and close cooperation with Western partners,” the party argued. “Georgia cannot emerge from this international isolation without a significant reset of the political process.” Commenting on the initiative, Tamar Chergoleishvili, leader of the Federalists party and a member of the opposition alliance, said, “Negotiations with the [Georgian Dream] regime will inevitably begin, but they will begin on the transfer of power and not on the survival of the regime,“ adding, “Lelo will definitely not be the initiator of this dialogue. The initiator of this dialogue will be the Georgian people, who will leave the regime no other choice.” Speaker of Georgia’s disputed Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, said the ruling party had “nothing to talk about” with Lelo or the wider opposition. “Let them talk to the Constitutional Court, and let some of their members talk to the criminal court, where cases related to them are pending,” Papuashvili told journalists on March 16. The initiative comes as the rift between Lelo and the other opposition parties widens, first after the party participated in the October 2025 local elections amid the wider opposition boycott, and then by not joining the nine-party unity formed on March 2. Together with the United National Movement (UNM), the Coalition for Change, and former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia, Lelo is among the four opposition groupings that won enough support in the 2024 elections to enter parliament but rejected their seats, citing what they said was widespread vote fraud. While UNM and the Coalition for Change are part of the nine-party alliance, Lelo and For Georgia remain separate. Lelo’s leaders, Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, were released from jail in September 2025 after serving several months in prison for refusing to appear before the disputed parliament’s so-called Tsulukiani Commission. They were pardoned by Mikheil Kavelashvili, Georgian Dream-elected President, ahead of the party’s decision to participate in the October 4 municipal elections. Lelo is also among those facing a ban through Georgian Dream’s appeal to the Constitutional Court. Also Read: 06/11/2025 – Georgian Authorities to Prosecute Eight Opposition Leaders for ‘Crimes Against State’ 28/10/2025 – Ruling Party Appeals to Constitutional Court to Ban Three Major Opposition Forces