Irakli Zarkua to Salome Samadashvili: Salo, what has changed? The CEC is the same, we’re still the ruling party, Irakli Kobakhidze is the Prime Minister – so why are you participating in the local elections? What are you hoping for? Why haven’t you disappeared altogether?

What can I say about the radical opposition? What we’re hearing now – haven’t I been telling you this all along? They are unprincipled, without dignity, and full of double standards.­

And this is just the beginning – your own voters will be the ones to bring you down, the very people you’ve been lying to and betraying for so long. I’m sure my "Khabets" [slang for frustrated voters] will rise up and give you an extra “kontrolka” [slap of reality] as well,” – said Georgian Dream MP Irakli Zarkua, responding to the opposition parties’ decision to participate in the local self-government elections.

According to him, opposition parties have no principles and will act however they are instructed.

"Haven’t I told you that their words mean nothing? In 2020 they said the Parliament was illegitimate and they wouldn’t enter it – and then they did, and we could barely get them out. They have no principles – they just do what they’re told.

They initially claimed they wouldn’t take part in the local elections, invented a so-called resistance platform and all kinds of nonsense, but now they’ve realized that they’re vanishing completely, just like the ‘cooked’ United National Movement did. So they’ve decided to erase every argument they made before and now participate in the local elections.

This failed diplomat – I mean Samadashvili – do you know why I call her that? She was the ambassador to the EU for years, and when Russia attacked and the war started, she couldn’t even get a single country to issue a statement or impose sanctions. And then she came back here lecturing us on morality.

Now that same immoral morality continues – she said she wouldn’t take part in illegitimate elections, and now what’s changed?

Salo, what’s changed? The CEC is still the same, we’re still the ruling party, Irakli Kobakhidze is still the Prime Minister – so why are you running in the local elections? What are you hoping for? Why haven’t you disappeared completely?

Did your foreign masters order you to do it? That’s why you are where you are, and that’s where you’ll remain – as long as you keep waiting for instructions from foreign powers – you, the others, the Gakharias, and the self-proclaimed president of the ‘resistance platform.’

And again, this is only the beginning – your own voters will be the ones to finish you off, those you’ve pampered and lied to for years. I’m sure my ‘Khabets’ will rise up and give you a proper ‘kontrolka’ too,” – said Zarkua.

For reference: Salome Samadashvili made the following statement yesterday regarding participation in the local elections:

“If we strategically choose the locations where the government is weak – where they’ve already lost the election – and strike together as one, we might inflict more damage than by boycotting the process. No one can grant legitimacy to something already dead – what’s dead cannot die again,” – she said on Palitra News’ show 360 Degrees.