"Today, I am on the Shiraki plain, in Dedoplistskaro, together with my colleagues. Meanwhile, from the opposition, Gakharia is in Berlin, the 'Nationals' are in London, some are in Brussels, and who knows where else — but they are not with the Georgian people," said the Speaker of Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, to journalists while speaking about the opposition’s whereabouts during the pre-election period.

According to Papuashvili, the opposition prefers to stay in comfort:

"They want to be in comfort, on asphalt. Let them go to the regions, talk to the people of Georgia. They are constantly watching what some foreign MP will say, or what an ambassador will say.

The entire strategy of the radical opposition is based on what Rasa Juknevičienė said yesterday, or what some hypothetical MEP or foreign MP might say today. This is the fundamental crisis of the radical opposition.

After 30 years of independence, we’ve reached a situation where the whole radical opposition is looking not toward the people or the country, but outward — toward what foreign politicians say. And those foreign politicians are openly telling us — even the German ambassador recently said it outright, which is a basic truth — that they represent the interests of their own countries.

The German ambassador is not here to represent Georgia’s interests; he’s here for Germany’s. The British ambassador isn’t here for the Georgian people’s interests; he’s promoting Britain’s interests. The moment German and Georgian interests diverge, the German ambassador will choose Germany’s interest.”

He added: “Some in the radical opposition don’t want to admit that where they operate, it’s not about Georgia’s interests — it’s about the interests of other countries.”

Papuashvili also stated that the division within the opposition is artificial:

"This is a manufactured conflict — an attempt to portray the radical opposition as divided between 'Nationals' and 'non-Nationals.' But in reality, we’ve seen many times that the essence of the radical opposition is the same — it’s all one team: the team of the United National Movement.

And being a 'National' doesn’t necessarily mean being a party member. It’s an ideology — one that means serving the interests of other countries above your own people and their interests."

He continued:

"Out of the four radical opposition parties that passed the threshold, two say they will participate in the local elections, two say they won’t. This is an imaginary tactic to make it look like the National Movement has faded and to present some new force to the Georgian people — as if it’s not connected to the UNM, when in fact it is."

According to Papuashvili, the "Gakharia for Georgia" party has formed local-level coalitions with the United National Movement, meaning they are part of "one political family," while members of Lelo are, in his words, "leaders of the UNM."

"So this whole mimicry is an attempt to hide the United National Movement brand from the eyes of Georgians and present it as something new. But they all have the same ‘five’ [a reference to the UNM's party number] written across their foreheads — Gakharia, Khazaradze, Melia, Vashadze, or any other representative of these parties,” – said Papuashvili.