Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder and honorary chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, commented briefly on the municipal elections taking place in the country today.

"Today is another important day in the modern history of our country. Free elections, which have been held in Georgia with enviable regularity recently, continue to be among the most interesting and important. Our party, Georgian Dream, gave society the opportunity to make a free choice, just as in recent years we have succeeded in establishing freedom of speech, free business, and free life," Ivanishvili stated.

He recalled that Georgian Dream has been in power for 13 years and emphasized that during this period, it and society have achieved "impressive successes in all areas." The greatest achievement, he said, was that "both members of the Georgian Dream and society have been able to and have learned to conduct good, objective analysis and develop critical thinking."

"Our society is already capable of freely distinguishing between black and white," concluded Bidzina Ivanishvili.

The founder of the ruling party has already cast his vote in the local government elections. The perimeter of the polling station where he was scheduled to vote was cordoned off by police.

Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili, for his part, after leaving the polling station, declared that October 4th should be the day of "successful democratic elections."

He emphasized that today marks the end of the electoral cycle: at the end of 2024, the country's parliament and president were elected, and now Georgians are choosing their representatives to local government bodies. Thus, he said, the authorities will now have a "mandate from the people" to act for the good of the country until 2028.

Papuashvili also accused the "radical opposition" of "turning its back on democracy" and embracing extremism, as they were ordered to do abroad. He declined to comment on reports of election violations.

Earlier, the opposition party "Lelo – Strong Georgia" reported that its representatives were being prevented from installing a video camera at polling station No. 33 in Nadzaladevi. According to party member Tamaz Datunashvili, uninterrupted video surveillance is mandated by the Electoral Code, and obstructing it is a serious crime.