“Our position regarding participation in the elections is not subject to revision—boycotters lack vision. Have a different opinion? They’ll come and call you a traitor, a collaborator, or someone colluding with ‘Georgian Dream,’ but if you ask them what the path to victory is, none of them can answer,” said Berdia Sichinava, one of the leaders of “Gakharia for Georgia,” in response to a letter by Giorgi Vashadze. In the letter, Vashadze proposes that the opposition unite under Salome Zurabishvili’s leadership in a “resistance platform” based on the eight parties not participating in the local elections, under a common name. He also suggested that if “Lelo” and “Gakharia for Georgia” refuse to participate in the so-called local elections, they could join this alliance.

As Berdia Sichinava stated on PalitraNews’ program “360 Degrees,” “boycotters” are killing elections as a political instrument in this country.

“We haven’t discussed [Vashadze’s letter], but I can respond right now: our position on participating in the elections is not subject to revision. Let the other eight parties implement their plan. As for unity, unity would be appropriate in the form of rallying around a common neutral candidate and participating in the elections. If they wanted unity, there was an opportunity for it—a significant battleground, Tbilisi, and other very important cities where these people could have united. Does unity only exist on their side, and is the truth necessarily with them? Is there no truth on our side, and must unity only be with them? We believe our path is correct, pragmatic, and rational. Their path is not the one that leads to the temple. Boycotters must first lay out their plan. They are killing elections as a political instrument in this country. When you kill elections as a political instrument, it means you have another path, and you need to tell us what it is.

Tell me your plan, tell me your calendar—what happens after what? What happens on August 31? What happens in September? First, I need to see a concrete vision. What kind of unity? Unity for the sake of unity doesn’t exist. That’s how Vashadze was collecting a million signatures, but he couldn’t even gather 30,000. It can’t work like that. There is no vision; boycotters have no vision. Their only vision is: have a different opinion? They’ll come and call you a traitor, a collaborator, or someone colluding with ‘Georgian Dream,’ but if you ask them what their path is, what the path to victory is, none of them can answer,” Sichinava stated.

According to Berdia Sichinava, some of the voters of the boycotting parties do not take their path seriously, as evidenced by the decreasing number of people attending protest rallies.

“We ask a simple question: fine, you’re killing elections as a political instrument, alongside ‘Georgian Dream,’ but what is your path? Is revolution your path? Our path is not revolution because we know exactly what processes follow a revolution in a country and how a revolution becomes a headache. You say that approximately 400,000 people supported your political forces—bring those people out. Have you seen 400,000 people in the streets lately? I saw them during the time of the Russian law, but have you seen them now? Why aren’t they coming out? Because even a portion of their voters doesn’t take this path seriously,” Sichinava stated.