Lelo/Strong Georgia, Gakharia’s For Georgia Name Irakli Kupradze as Joint Tbilisi Mayoral Candidate
Opposition Lelo/Strong Georgia alliance and ex-Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia party nominated Lelo Secretary General Irakli Kupradze as their joint candidate for the Tbilisi mayoral race in the partially boycotted October 4 local elections.
The decision comes after the two major opposition forces, which cleared the 5% threshold in the October 26 general elections, chose to challenge Georgian Dream in the municipal vote by participating, unlike other major forces who opted for a boycott. For Georgia and Strong Georgia, with the latter currently uniting the Lelo and Citizens parties after two partners quit the coalition, signed a memorandum to cooperate in the campaign, including by naming joint candidates.
“If you want to bring about real changes, you need to take this responsibility, you need to say that you can do it, and I want to say it with you: we can do it,” Kupradze said as he addressed the crowd during a joint campaign launch event of the two forces late on August 18.
The event took place amid the absence of the key founders of both political forces. Lelo’s two founders – Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze – remain behind bars after being convicted over boycotting Georgian Dream’s parliamentary commission, while Giorgi Gakharia is staying abroad as he faces two separate criminal probes over his actions in 2019 when he was interior minister.
“We can take back Tbilisi, we can take back villages, we can take back townlets, and the people excluded by Georgian Dream,” Kupradze said, echoing Lelo’s claims that, however unfair, the municipal vote still offers an opportunity to challenge the ruling party’s dominance, a belief met with skepticism by the boycotting forces.
Kupradze, who joined Lelo in 2019 after spending time in progressive activism, has featured among Lelo’s top MP candidates for parliamentary elections since, and was elected in Batumi city council (Sakrebulo) in 2021 elections before quitting his mandate in 2022.
Irakli Kupradze’s rivals in Tbilisi’s mayoral race so far are Georgian Dream’s candidate, incumbent Mayor Kakha Kaladze, who is seeking a third term, and Zurab Makharadze of the far-right Conservatives for Georgia (Alt-Info) party.
The two opposition forces are among 14 parties cleared by the Central Election Commission to run in the local elections, down from 17 initially registered and far fewer than the 43 that had signed up in the 2021 vote.
Nine parties, including those from major opposition alliances that took part in last October’s parliamentary elections and two former coalition partners of Lelo/Strong Georgia, are boycotting the elections, with the vote taking place amid ongoing repression, legislative crackdowns on opposition, jailings of political leaders, and a lack of international observation.
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