This story by Arzu Geybullayeva originally appeared on Global Voices on October 11, 2025.
On October 4, Georgia held municipal elections in a climate of escalating political tension. Protests organized by the opposition on the day of the vote saw significant police intervention, with scores being arrested following an investigation launched by the country's Interior Ministry.
The incumbent Georgian Dream party claimed sweeping victory — both proportionally and in mayoral races — across all 64 municipalities. Official voter turnout hovered around 40.9 percent; in the capital of Tbilisi, it was only 31 percent, a record low. According to analysis by Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), the international non-profit, non-partisan, public policy institution, “Out of nearly one million registered voters, the ruling party candidate received about 250,000.” In previous local elections held in 2021, the voter turnout was at 39 percent.
The municipal election took place amid a year of protests which started in response to the government’s announcement to delay EU integration. In 2024, there was a contested parliamentary election, which both the country’s opposition and independent international observers described as flawed. Despite the ongoing protests, the ruling party has not budged, only raising the pressure bar over citizens and the remaining members of independent civil society. Arrests and prison sentences have continued, even as the government faces growing scrutiny over Georgia's democratic backsliding over the course of the past year.
In the lead-up to the local elections on October 4, opposition and human rights groups had raised concerns that changes to electoral laws — including removing thresholds requiring runoffs, increasing majoritarian seats, and reshaping municipal boundaries and seat allocations — favored the incumbents. This has been accompanied by a year-long crackdown on dissent and civil society, including the jailing of opposition figures, mounting pressure against NGOs, and restrictions on local independent media, all of which have cumulatively tilted the playing field in favor of the government.
As a result, eight major opposition parties — including Freedom Square, European Georgia, United National Movement, Strategy Agmashenebeli, Girchi–More Freedom and others — announced they were boycotting the municipal elections, saying that participating would be tantamount to legitimizing what they call an illegitimate regime. Only a couple of opposition actors (the Lelo-Strong Georgia alliance; ex-Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia) with one joint candidate contested.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) refused to field an observer mission due to the short notice of their invitation, further eroding confidence in oversight. Other international observer missions and prominent local election observers, including the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, and Transparency International, also did not deploy any missions, citing a repressive environment and inability for fair and free elections to take place.
On the day of the vote, large demonstrations across Tbilisi encountered heavy police intervention. The organizers of the protests described the demonstrations as a “peaceful revolution,” but City Hall denied them permission for most of their requested locations, granting only one out of four areas with a caveat that roads should remain open in order not to block people from accessing polling stations.
Protesters eventually broke through the gates of the presidential residence; police responded with pepper spray, water cannons and tear gas. According to official counts, 21 security personnel and six protesters were injured.
In a tweet, at least one member of parliament described the protesters as a “violent mob” and “radical opposition.” The Ministry of the Interior later advised that an investigation had been launched regarding four separate criminal charges — attempted overthrow of the constitutional order, group violence, seizure or blocking of a strategic facility, and damage or destruction of property. Among the 36 arrested so far are opposition figures and scores of demonstrators.
On October 7, the European Parliament issued a joint statement on election outcomes in Georgia, describing the environment in which the local elections took place as “restrictive,” expressing concern over violent police response to the protests, and calling on the government “to stop its assault on democracy and respect the fundamental rights of freedom of assembly and expression.”
In a statement on October 7, OSCE/ODIHR Director Maria Telalian called on the authorities to respect citizens’ rights to peaceful assembly. “Peaceful protesters in Georgia continue to be detained, sentenced, and fined for exercising their rights. The authorities have an obligation to implement their OSCE human rights commitments and international obligations, including respect for the right to peaceful assembly,” she said. “I would like to urge once again the Georgian authorities to ensure that civil society and human rights defenders are not targeted and that their voices are heard, as their work is crucial in fostering a vibrant democratic society.”
EU High Representative Kaja Kallas and Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos issued a joint statement urging Georgia to uphold freedom of assembly and expression. “Months of raids on independent media, the passing of laws targeting civil society, the jailing of opponents and activists, or amendments to the electoral code favoring the ruling party, drastically reduced the possibility of having competitive elections,” they explained, adding that “a large part of the opposition boycotted these elections, and the turnout was relatively low.”
Several other international responses echoed the sentiments of the EU officials, holding the ruling government accountable for elections that they said failed to meet democratic election standards, void of transparency and fair vote. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze claimed the protest was an attempt to overthrow democratic order, and accused the EU of foreign involvement.
For some observers, Western condemnation is not enough. According to Laura Thornton, the senior director for global democracy programs at the McCain Institute, Western stakeholders must bear the responsibility for not doing enough ahead of what unfolded on October 4. She suggested that the EU and the US had failed to adopt legislation which could have been used to financially sanction and weaken the ruling party, but maintained there was still a possibility to “economically isolate the Georgian regime.”
Despite Georgian Dream claiming a landslide victory in these elections, Hans Gutbrod, a professor in Public Policy and longtime Georgia observer, suggested in an analysis that the party may not be as strong as it appears: “In the end, it comes back to this. The dominance of the Georgian Dream across institutions conceals that they are not that strong. Across the world, those that today are described as post-liberal populists have real grievances that they run on, ranging from immigration to historical humiliation (Trianon, Sèvres, “regional power”, and so forth). The Georgian Dream? It has to make up entirely imaginary enemies,” Gutbrod wrote.
The 2025 municipal elections underscored the growing political polarization and institutional strain in Georgia. Despite the ruling party securing victories across all municipalities, the combination of a historically low turnout, opposition boycotts, and the absence of major observer missions has raised questions about the overall credibility of the vote. The protests and ensuing police response further highlighted the tense environment in which the elections were conducted.
As Georgia faces scrutiny over its democratic trajectory and relations with its Western partners, the aftermath of the elections is likely to shape both the country’s internal political landscape and the future of its engagement with the European Union and broader international community.
(SY)
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