Giorgi Sharashidze, a member of parliament from the party “For Georgia”, responded to the statement by Georgia’s fifth president Salome Zurabishvili, who called them “traitors,” saying that betrayal is when someone leaves the battlefield and abandons people without representation.

“Betrayal is when you leave people without representatives in all 64 municipalities of Georgia. When you leave the battlefield, sneak away from it in a treacherous manner, call on people not to go to the elections and do not explain at all why you acted this way or why you gave this gift to Georgian Dream—that is betrayal. Tell Ms. Salome this from us before anyone speaks about our betrayal,” said Giorgi Sharashidze, responding to Zurabishvili’s remarks.

According to him, history will ultimately judge who the real traitor is.

“Betrayal is when you leave people without representation in all 64 municipalities. When you walk away from the battlefield, sneak away treacherously, urge people not to participate in elections but to gather on Rustaveli Avenue where a peaceful overthrow is being announced, and then take no responsibility and do not explain why you acted this way or why you gave such a gift to ‘Georgian Dream’—that is betrayal, Ms. Salome. History will judge well who the real traitor is,” Sharashidze said.

Speaking on the same topic, Sharashidze added that part of the opposition effectively handed power and all 64 mayoral positions to Georgian Dream “on a silver platter.”

“That is exactly what I said—betrayal is the action that led to the further strengthening of ‘Georgian Dream.’ When you gift them power in all 64 municipalities for four years, hand over all 64 mayoral positions on a platter, and leave people in the regions without opposition representatives—that is betrayal. It is not the sharp criticism we voice every day in parliament against ‘Georgian Dream.’ That is the political process. No one promised that with 12 mandates we would defeat the majority of 89 deputies from ‘Georgian Dream.’ Even if there had been 61 opposition MPs and the opposition had fully entered parliament, unfortunately this still would not have happened, but the political process would have been much more active. In fact, these 12 people are doing the work of the entire opposition. Before speaking about someone else’s betrayal, they should answer for their own actions and talk about what results they have achieved in this country since October 4,” Sharashidze stated.

When asked where the party’s leader Giorgi Gakharia is and what he says about Zurabishvili’s statement, Sharashidze replied that their leader’s view is identical to the position of their team.

“He says the same things we say. From where he is, he also sees these processes very well. As for his activity, you can even see yesterday’s post on platform X, not just something from five days ago,” Sharashidze noted.

For reference, Georgia’s fifth president Salome Zurabishvili, while answering questions from the public on social media, said that parties which sometimes enter parliament and sometimes repeat the messages of Georgian Dream are traitors.

According to her, the opposition will eventually achieve unity.