“In order to create an alternative to ‘Georgian Dream,’ it is necessary to achieve full consolidation of the opposition electorate on the field and work on this electorate without losses - what can we do, water and oil don’t mix with each other - we must also give the opposition voter the opportunity to choose on the opposition field,” stated one of the leaders of “Lelo – For a Strong Georgia,” Mamuka Katsitadze, during his appearance on PalitraNews’s program “Day’s Newsroom,” where he discussed the reasons why “Lelo” did not join the alliance with opposition parties.

As he stated, “Lelo” is ready for cooperation with the parties’ alliance on certain issues, but “Lelo” sees itself as an independent electoral entity.

“February 17 is the date when ‘Lelo’ at the political council made a decision to put an end to the rumors about what ‘Lelo’ intends to do and in what form it intends to prepare for the upcoming elections - whether they will be early or regular. We decided that ‘Lelo’ will continue independently its preparation for self-development and strengthening. ‘Lelo’ sees itself independently as an electoral entity with number 9 in the upcoming parliamentary elections, and naturally, strengthening with partners - both individuals and organizations - will be acceptable for us if there are such willing parties, which was expressed in the 2024 coalition ‘Lelo – For a Strong Georgia.’ We made this decision on February 17. Now, as for why we did it. We did it because there is quite bad experience from the 2025 local self-government elections, where with about two months’ delay we clearly stated that holding these elections would not be correct and would not be correct to leave any field or free it from battle for ‘Georgian Dream’ - it must be fought on every field. These two months were exactly spent on talks with other opposition parties - perhaps we could agree, perhaps in big cities we could take this battle where, according to all polls and research, the opposition would win; perhaps Tbilisi could be that point, and so on. We lost valuable time in this, time beat us, and we saw the result. Despite the fact that ‘Lelo’ has representation in 90% of municipalities across Georgia, we could have achieved a better result, but this waiting and dragging out the process seriously damaged us.

As for unity, we knew that a certain unity was being prepared - the one that was announced on March 2 - naturally, questions would arise toward ‘Lelo.’ To defeat today’s government, maximum effort must be directed toward achieving the consolidation of the opposition field’s electorate without losses. The opposition field is quite contrasting, not uniform. Our logic is that regarding thematic issues - strengthening protests, foreign policy field, release of prisoners, legislative changes, etc. - we are like-minded and involved in this part. As for elections and the moment of becoming an electoral entity, here at least you must know the code, where it is written that a bloc is not allowed, and at least you must form as one party, and if this one party is not natural and organically formed, then it causes great misunderstanding and rejection in society. If you do not go as one entity in the elections, the legislation does not give you any other opportunity, and if they plan to dissolve before the elections, then I will say that they have taken an incorrect step,” Katsitadze stated.

According to him, natural unity is good for the voter, while eclectic unity confuses the voter.

“This is natural unity, this is organic unification, and this is good. ‘Lelo’ believes that artificiality, eclecticism, contrived unities, patched-together, concocted unities are not long-term projects, which then damage the process. Therefore, where there is no organic, natural unity, this is a threat-creating factor. The biggest threat in this regard is that when the voter later sees this, and especially when such unities do not reach a single electoral entity, disillusionment, frustration begins directly in the voter, and disappointment sets in, which no longer harms a specific political organization - it harms the entire opposition field and the political process in general.

In the conditions of today’s government, in the current political situation, I know one thing and I am convinced that without ‘Lelo – For a Strong Georgia,’ an alternative cannot be created in Georgia. It is excluded that an alternative can be created. To know this, you must know politics at the level of Aya and be able to count up to 50 - no need to count to 100. We want to make our solid contribution to creating this critical mass, to creating this alternative, and naturally we want our unity, which will then be formed as an electoral entity, to be organic and to have close, thematic ties with other pro-Western opposition entities - both in the pre-election period and in the post-election period. If someone sees and understands this correctly, very good, but if someone wants to start with finger-wagging and kicking feet, saying ‘we are here and no one recognizes you,’ it won’t work, dear ones, none of this! I am not threatening anyone; this is a kindly partnerly attitude. What can we do, water and oil don’t mix with each other,” Katsitadze stated.

According to him, when the entire opposition enters one pan, one pot, or one electoral entity, the voter may, because of someone specific, not pay any attention to this unification at all if that specific political party or person is so unacceptable to him.

“Today, for the opposition to gain a clear advantage over the government - to a priori say that collectively we will take 20-30% more than the government and the government will not exceed 20% - is not relevant or correct. In order to create an alternative to ‘Georgian Dream,’ it is necessary to achieve full consolidation of the opposition electorate on the field and work on this electorate without losses. The opposition electorate on the field is not uniform. When the entire opposition enters one pan, one pot, or one electoral entity, the voter may, because of someone specific, not pay any attention to this unification at all if that specific political party or person is so unacceptable to him. Therefore, the whole charm lies in free choice. We must also give the opposition voter the opportunity to choose on the opposition field. But not in such a way that there are 10 or 15 and the threat of not overcoming the 5% barrier arises - no! You don’t like this one? - there is the second, the third. If that voter ultimately cannot decide among the three and says that if you three were together, then I would give you my vote - I tell you directly that he is lying; he is a hidden ‘Dreamer’ and is looking for an argument on how to escape this situation. Therefore, so as not to lose the opposition voter, so that there is an opportunity to make a choice among them and so that there exists a situation of unity among these opposition entities - both in the pre-election and post-election periods - thematic cooperation is needed, for which we are ready and have always been ready,” Katsitadze stated.

In addition, he spoke about the planned visit of the “opposition unity” to Washington. According to Katsitadze’s assessment, if the visit is successful, “this will only please ‘Lelo.’”

“If this visit to Washington took place and they saw it as an accountable force, ‘Lelo’ will only be pleased with this situation. We also have analogous activities planned on the foreign field. We too will have our specific efforts in this regard. ‘Lelo’ will only be pleased by the strengthening of potential partners on the foreign policy field,” Katsitadze stated.

To remind you: An “Opposition Alliance” has been formed among part of the opposition parties. The document is signed by “Coalition for Change,” “United National Movement,” “Strategy Aghmashenebeli,” “Federalists,” “National Democratic Party,” “European Georgia,” and “Tavisuplebis Moedani” (Freedom Square).

The signing opposition forces agree on a common strategy and joint rules of action and declare that through collective efforts they will liberate Georgia from Bidzina Ivanishvili’s “autocratic regime,” restore the country’s Euro-Atlantic course, and ensure democratic governance.

The agreement is based on several principles, including “unity without uniformity.” Specifically, according to the document, the founding parties of the alliance retain their ideological identities but agree on unified protest actions and a common communication strategy.

Additionally, the participating parties agree on a code of conduct that regulates the rules of interaction among the signatories and establishes responsibility for any violations.

The “Opposition Alliance” pledges that it “will fight to the end - until the release of political prisoners and victory in free and fair elections.”