It’s raining men: Georgian Dream names slate of all-male candidates for Tbilisi municipal election
Georgian Dream has announced its majoritarian candidates for the Tbilisi City Assembly, all of whom are men. The slate of candidates will participate in the municipal elections, scheduled in Georgia on 4 October 2025 and boycotted by several opposition parties.
The ruling Georgian Dream party’s political leaders, including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and Tbilisi Mayor and party Secretary-General Kakha Kaladze, took part in the ceremony presenting the majoritarian candidates.
Kobakhidze thanked current city council members for their contributions to ‘Tbilisi’s development’ over the past four years.
According to Kaladze, the majoritarian candidates will serve as ‘a bridge between the municipality and the citizens’.
None of the 25 candidates presented are women. Responding to a question on the matter, Georgian Dream’s parliamentary leader Mamuka Mdinaradze said ‘we need to overcome these gender complexes’.
‘We will have female candidates on the [party] list. In this case, we didn’t distinguish between women and men’, Mdinaradze added.
Kaladze, the mayor of the capital since 2017, also has vowed to run for the third term and was presented as Georgian Dream’s mayoral candidate on 31 July.
Under the previous legislation in force until April 2024, municipal elections scheduled through 2032 required that at least one out of every three candidates on party lists be a woman. However, last year, parliament abolished gender quotas for both municipal and parliamentary elections, with the support of Georgian Dream and the small libertarian party Girchi.
Opposition boycott
Eight other opposition parties have announced a boycott of the municipal elections. The list included parties from two largest opposition groups — Coalition for Change and Unity – United National Movement (UNM). For them, taking part in the elections would undermine the policy of refusing to recognise Georgian Dream’s legitimacy following the disputed 2024 parliamentary elections, which were marred by major violations.
Parties in favour of participating in the elections have argued that opposition involvement in the process will strengthen the anti-government momentum and prevent Georgian Dream from gaining full control over all state institutions.
Only two major opposition parties — Lelo and For Georgia — have announced plans to take part in the elections so far. Two smaller parties — Freedom Square and For the People — which joined Lelo in a pre-2024 election coalition under the name Strong Georgia, have announced that they will not take part in the municipal vote.
In mid-July, Lelo and For Georgia signed a deal to support neutral candidates from civil society in mayoral races and for majoritarian council seats. If finding such candidates proves impossible, they will pool their resources and present joint party candidates to the electorate.
Parties wishing to participate in the vote have not yet presented their candidates either in Tbilisi or elsewhere.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
