Rusudan Tevzadze, a member of the political council of the opposition party For Georgia, has resigned from both the party and parliament. The move came after the party decided to end its year-long boycott of the legislative body.
In Tevzadze’s words, who had been a party member since 2021 and oversaw the education and culture portfolio on its political council, she has tried in recent years to serve and make as much impact as possible as a member of the party.
‘Due to these and my colleague’s efforts I have received a mandate as a member of parliament, which our party has boycotted until now’, she noted in a social media post released on Saturday.
Emphasising the ‘extremely difficult domestic and foreign challenges’ currently facing Georgia, Tevzadze said she made a difficult but, in her view, ‘morally correct’ decision.
‘For the benefit of my children and the future of their generation, I am refusing my parliamentary mandate and leaving the party’, she said, adding that her resignation ‘is in no way directed’ against the For Georgia party:
‘My colleagues continue to remain friends and respected professionals for me, and I wish them success on this path’.
All major opposition groups, including For Georgia, refused to enter parliament following the disputed October 2024 parliamentary elections which were marred by major violations and allowed the ruling Georgian Dream party to remain in power.
At the same time, every opposition group that had crossed the electoral threshold applied to the Central Election Commission (CEC) to have their parliamentary mandates revoked. However, For Georgia did not do so, leaving open the theoretical possibility of later entering parliament.
In September 2025, party leader Giorgi Gakharia, who served previously as Interior Minister and Prime Minister under Georgian Dream before moving to the opposition, openly stated that the boycott had been a mistake. The statement was followed by the party’s 20 October announcement of its decision to enter parliament.
For Georgia cited growing authoritarianism and the lack of dissenting voices in parliament as the reason for its decision. Nevertheless, the move was met with sharp criticism from some opposition members who view the parliamentary boycott as one of the main mechanisms to isolate the ruling party.
With the official results of the disputed 2024 elections, 89 MPs from Georgian Dream and its small satellite groups gained parliamentary mandates, along with 61 deputies from opposition parties, including 12 from Gakharia’s party.
In July, Georgian Dream suspended the mandates of the For Georgia MPs, including Gakharia himself, due to their prolonged absence from parliamentary sessions.
However, following the end of the boycott, the party’s 12 other representatives will be able to take their seats. Tevzadze was among these 12.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
