Several thousand protesters, led by Georgia’s pro-Western opposition, gathered on Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue on the evening of November 24 to contest the legitimacy of the inaugural session of the new Georgian parliament. 

This follows the disputed October 26 general election, in which the Moscow-friendly Georgian Dream (GD) party claimed 54% of the vote. The evening’s action followed on from other protests against election fraud earlier in the day, as tensions mount in the Georgian capital in what looks set to be a decisive couple of days for the opposition’s efforts to overturn the election results. More protesters are due to mobilise on Rustaveli at 9am on November 25, just hours before the new parliament is set to convene.

Large gazebo-style tents have been set up in front of the parliament building on Rustaveli, with the opposition announcing they will remain at the protest site overnight and be there to confront the new GD MPs when they arrive for the first parliamentary session, which is scheduled for 12 noon on November 25. 

“We will inform them that their meeting is in violation of the law and the constitution,” stated Giorgi Vashadze, one of the leaders of the opposition UNM-Unity coalition. A modest number of protesters opted to brave a night on the streets and erected smaller tents around the gazebos. The Unity-UNM coalition has urged supporters to take leave from work on November 25 to protest all day outside the parliament building.

Georgia’s four major opposition blocs, who declare the October vote was rigged in GD’s favour and reject the results, have announced they will not enter the new parliament and declare it unconstitutional, illegitimate, unreflective of the will of the Georgian people and devoid of support from the country’s international partners. Since last month’s vote they have led a string of protests challenging GD’s victory and demanding a second round of elections under international supervision.

At a rally on Tbilisi’s central traffic intersection, Heroes Square, UNM-Unity’s Vashadze called on opposition supporters to assemble at Republic Square, before marching to parliament and remaining there overnight, so as to be on the spot to peacefully protest against proceedings the following day. 

The UNM leader also announced that a convoy of demonstrators against election fraud would be joining the protest from various rural regions across Georgia. Among these, students who have been staging continuous protest sit-ins at Zugdidi Shota Meskhia University in the Samegrelo region and Batumi State University on the Black Sea have announced they will join demonstrators outside parliament on Monday morning. 

On the evening of November 24, Georgian police forces initially blocked the convoy of cars from the regions, along with participants who had gathered at Republic Square, from proceeding down Rustaveli Avenue towards the parliament building, meaning demonstrators already outside parliament were temporarily cut off from the main protest group. Eventually, though, most of the cars were permitted to pass, and protesters united outside the parliament.

In anticipation of a large gathering on the morning of November 25, police cordons have blocked side streets to the left and right of the parliament building, preventing protesters from moving around the back of the building and attempting to impede GD MPs from entering. As of November 24, the mood was relatively passive, and, unless a further wave of demonstrators arrives outside parliament on Monday morning, bringing a new wave of energy, it seems unlikely the street protest will have much of an impact on the session inside.

Georgia’s Western-leaning president, Salome Zourabichvili, has declared the new parliamentary unconstitutional, citing three key reasons. Firstly, the president argues that widespread irregularities during the October elections have undermined the legitimacy of the new parliament. Secondly, she highlighted that she has refused to official convene the first parliament session, a power vested exclusively in the president, with no substitute being recognised by the constitution. Lastly, Zourabichvili noted that the appeal she recent filed to the Constitution Court, flagging breaches of voter secrecy during the October vote, is still pending, casting further doubt on the legality of the November 25 parliamentary session.

Amid the oppositions’ preparations the November 25 protests, Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a warning statement that anyone attempting to block the parliament or disrupt its first session will be arrested. “We remind you that since October 2024, the parliament has been included in the list of strategic and special purposes sites. Blocking these sites is a criminal offence – punishable by up to two years in prison for individuals, and up to four years for actions committed as part of a group. We warn participants and organisers of the planned rally not to exceed legal boundaries and to refrain from unlawful actions,” the statement read.

President Zourabichvili was quick to react, calling the threat further proof of Russian style of governance, of which GD has been accused in recent months following illiberal legislation and an increasingly authoritarian attitude to Georgia’s political opposition.

"They might as well outright say they plan to arrest everyone. This is also a violation of another fundamental principle of the constitution — the right to demonstration and assembly! Threats are useless... It's yet another proof of Russian-style governance!" Zourabichvili wrote on X. 

Since the October 26 vote the opposition has struggled to mobilise large crowds. The turnout out on November 25 will be critical, signalling whether the Georgian public are willing to rally behind opposition leaders who have only recently united, and who, at times, have failed to show effective leadership and convincing organisational ability in recent weeks.