“The previous U.S. administration did everything to prevent the opposition from using its own mandates,” said Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, commenting on a U.S. State Department delegation visit and its position regarding the necessity for the opposition to exercise its parliamentary mandates. He added that the current administration’s approach is different.

Kobakhidze also spoke about the meeting between “Georgian Dream” representatives and members of the delegation, noting that the government’s publicly stated position and desire is to renew the strategic partnership with the United States “from a clean slate.”

“You know that the previous administration did everything to prevent the opposition from using their mandates. This happened after the 2020 parliamentary elections. The processes were also prepared in this way for the 2024 elections, and ultimately this led to the fact that in one case we had to go through extensive negotiations, we had to sign an agreement, and even after that part of the opposition did not enter parliament. In 2024, three out of four parties that passed the electoral threshold did not enter parliament.

The previous administration directly encouraged this, and we are glad that the new administration’s approach is different.

In general, all parties should respect the choice of their voters and the mandates granted by them, which the opposition failed to do in previous cases. I will repeat that this was the result of interference by the then administration, as well as direct interference by European bureaucracy in both cases, both in 2020 and in 2024. We are glad that the new administration’s approach is different.

Overall, we had a very interesting meeting during the visit. You know our approach: we are ready to renew the strategic partnership with the United States from a clean slate and with a concrete roadmap. This is our publicly expressed desire, and one key point I would emphasize is that the renewal or reset of relations must be based on the principle of justice.

One of the main issues that hindered the improvement of relations between the two countries—and instead worsened them—was precisely injustice, the injustice of the previous administration. What was damaged by injustice can only be repaired by a fair approach and relations based on mutual respect. This is our appeal to our American colleagues,” Kobakhidze said.