Elections 2025: Georgian Dream wins over 80% of votes, wins all 64 municipalities
The Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia won the local elections on October 4, 2025. The ruling party received 81.7% of the votes and will control all 64 municipalities.
In Tbilisi, Georgian Dream won 70%, and Kakha Kaladze became the mayor of the capital for the third term with 71% of the votes.
Only 5 opposition deputies out of 50 entered the Tbilisi City Council: 2 from Strong Georgia, 2 from the libertarian party Girchi, and 1 from the ultra-right party “Conservative Movement.”
The party of former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia failed to overcome the threshold in Tbilisi.
It is worth noting that these elections saw a record-low turnout. 41% of voters nationwide voted, and only 31% in the capital — both the lowest figures in the last 35 years.
The reason for this was the boycott announced by the majority of opposition parties. The United National Movement, Coalition for Changes, Freedom Square, Federalists, and others did not participate in the elections and urged their supporters to stay home.
No local non-governmental organisations observed the elections, and the number of international observer organisations was minimal.
Organisers of the October 4 Rally Sentenced to Prison
In parallel with the local elections, on October 4, several opposition figures and public representatives announced a “peaceful revolution.” For this purpose, citizens began gathering in the centre of Tbilisi at 16:00.
At 18:00, Paata Burchuladze delivered a statement titled the “Declaration of the National Assembly,” declaring that “from now on, power belongs to the people.”
Following this, Murtaz Zodelava addressed the crowd, urging them to march toward the Atoneli residence: “We are gathering only male strength towards Baratashvili Park and starting a movement so that the Georgian people can begin to return their own centres of power,” he said.
Some citizens broke through the barriers surrounding the President’s residence. The Georgian Dream Defence (GDD) forces used special means against the protesters and forced them out of the Atoneli Palace courtyard. Parts of the crowd remained on Atoneli Street, Rustaveli Avenue, and Freedom Square. The GDD repeatedly used pepper spray, tear gas, and water cannons to disperse the rally participants.
Within a few hours, it became known that all five members of the October 4 Organising Committee — Paata Burchuladze, Murtaz Zodelava, Irakli Nadiradze, Paata Manjgaladze, and Lasha Beridze — had been arrested.
On October 7, Tbilisi City Court Judge Lela Maridashvili sentenced Paata Burchuladze, leader of the Rustaveli Avenue movement; former Chief Prosecutor Murtaz Zodelava; Irakli Nadiradze, member of the National Movement; Paata Manjgaladze, one of the leaders of Strategy Builder; and Colonel Lasha Beridze to pretrial detention as a preventive measure.
In total, 44 people were detained for participating in the October 4 rally, though Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated that the number of detainees is expected to increase.
Former Deputy Director of the Penitentiary Service Arrested on Charges of Faking Bachiashvili’s Beating
The former Deputy Director of the Penitentiary Service, Giorgi Kemoklidze, has been arrested on charges of staging the beating of Giorgi Bachiashvili, the former head of the Co-Investment Fund, who was convicted in the so-called cryptocurrency case. The court has ordered pretrial detention as a preventive measure.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Kemoklidze, in collusion with Bachiashvili, arranged for “two specially selected prisoners” to be placed in Bachiashvili’s cell in Gldani Prison in June 2025. These inmates were allegedly tasked with simulating physical retribution against Bachiashvili according to a prearranged scenario, which ultimately failed to materialise.
Despite spending 10 days in the same cell with Bachiashvili, the two prisoners were never entered into the official registration journal, a serious procedural violation.
Kemoklidze was arrested on October 9 under Article 332 of the Criminal Code — abuse of official authority — which carries penalties ranging from a fine or house arrest to up to three years in prison.
Two days earlier, on October 7, the former director of Gldani Prison, Davit Gogoberishvili, was found dead in the garage of a residential building. Authorities have launched an investigation into the case under the article of incitement to suicide.
Both Kemoklidze and Gogoberishvili had resigned from their positions at the end of August 2025, following an earlier incident in which a prisoner in Gldani’s eighth penitentiary cell physically assaulted Bachiashvili.
Reports of the beating of Giorgi Bachiashvili first surfaced on July 11, 2025. Shortly thereafter, Bachiashvili released a written statement claiming that he had been attacked by an unknown individual in his cell. He also alleged that on July 8, he had been summoned by Davit Gogoberishvili, who advised him to disclose all his bank accounts, cryptocurrency holdings, and transaction data to Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Earlier that year, on March 10, 2025, the Tbilisi City Court had sentenced Bidzina Ivanishvili’s former “personal financier”, Giorgi Bachiashvili, in absentia to 11 years in prison in the cryptocurrency case. On August 12, the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict.
Bachiashvili, once a close ally of Ivanishvili, was found guilty of embezzling large sums of money and laundering illegal income, receiving the maximum sentence under the applicable article. The Prosecutor’s Office accused him of embezzling $39,215,820 in cryptocurrency.
A criminal case was also opened against Bachiashvili’s parents. On September 30, Tbilisi City Court Judge Eka Barbakadze ordered pretrial detention for his 65-year-old mother, Marina Ramazashvili, and 75-year-old father, Aleksandre Bachiashvili.