On 22 January, the leaders of the Georgian opposition “Citizens” party Aleko Elisashvili and Levan Ioseliani met with the country’s Speaker of Parliament Archil Talakvadze and one of the parliamentary leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party Mamuka Mdinaradze in order to discuss the prospects of the “Citizens” party entering the parliament. 

“The Georgian Dream is ready to make serious concessions on the election legislation and election administration reform. However, still, no progress regarding the release of political prisoners,” Elisashvili said after the meeting. The parties discussed the issues of political prisoners, the electoral system, and election administration reform. The Citizens’ leader emphasised that this meeting was only preparatory and that other meetings with the GD would follow. 

Elisashvili noted that no agreement was reached in regard to the issue of political prisoners. “Levan Ioseliani and I came on behalf of the Citizens' Party to find out whether the Georgian Dream was ready for negotiations and compromise. We have discussed all 4 points. The most serious issue was the issue of political prisoners. We have been very principled, but, of course, it is also known that the Georgian Dream simply does not recognise the existence of political prisoners. This is a very difficult case. The Georgian Dream is still ready to make serious concessions regarding the election issues. They have confirmed their readiness. There is progress on election issues. Regarding the early elections, the Georgian Dream still has a position that a fact-finding commission should be set up and if it finds at least 1% error, they are ready to appoint snap elections,” he added.

Earlier, Elisashvili’s party announced that it would be parting ways with the other opposition forces in Georgia. “We left the opposition unity. They organised some collective trials of us, which is complete nonsense. The voters decide who is the opposition and who is not,” stated Ioseliani. He added that their party and other opposition groups have different approaches to easing the political crisis, so a parting of ways was the logical conclusion.  

Prior to the meeting, Talakvadze expressed his optimism that it would come to an agreement between the Citizens' party and the ruling forces. “Georgian Dream and Citizens’ position on the electoral reform is so close. I think it may become the subject of an agreement, and we will see another opposition political party in the parliament,” he said. Talakvadze also underlined the specific topics of discussion. “First of all, the issue of lowering the threshold for the 2024 parliamentary elections is in focus, also more precise regulations regarding election procedures and introduction of modern technologies, such as electronic counters and fingerprint registration. Other important issues concern the rules of the Central Election Commission staffing,” he said.

The representatives of the European Georgia opposition party also commented on the meeting. “Nothing will change with Elisashvili’s arrival or whatever he says there. The fifth round of negotiations will take place if the Georgian Dream compromises. We will meet them together with ambassadors. We plan no individual meetings,” said Sergi Kapanadze from EG. He also said that the ruling GD creates an illusion of opposition planning to engage in the parliament work with the delay of the terminations of mandates of the opposition parliamentarians.

A few days earlier, Elisashvili came to open confrontation with the European Georgia leadership, saying that the EG used damaging information against the leader of Strategy Agmashenebeli Giorgi Vashadze to influence his position during the negotiations with the ruling Georgian Dream. Elisashvili also engaged in a verbal confrontation with the “Lelo” party leader Mamuka Khazaradze, which inevitably led to a creation of variable opposition centres in the country (Caucasus Watch reported).