Georgian president offers pardons to jailed opposition leaders on election participation condition

Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili has called on imprisoned opposition politicians to submit clemency applications, saying he will grant immediate pardons to those who express a desire to participate in the upcoming local self-government elections.

“In exactly three months, on October 4, 2025, local self-government elections will be held, in which Georgia’s population must elect mayors and councils for 64 municipalities," Kavelashvili said in a post on Facebook.

He expressed the importance for all registered in accordance with Georgian legislation political parties, who express a desire to participate in elections, take full participation in these elections, Caliber.Az reports via Georgian media. 

It is also important that all political parties be able to conduct a full-fledged election campaign, he added. 

Referring to the current imprisonment of several opposition leaders, the president offered a path to clemency conditional on a formal request and confirmation of electoral participation.

"As the public will recall, specific leaders of several political parties are serving sentences in freedom-restricting institutions in accordance with Georgian legislation. Taking this circumstance into account, I propose to all relevant convicted politicians to appeal to me with a clemency application and confirm with that same application their own desire to participate in elections. In the event of such an appeal, I will immediately issue an act pardoning the relevant convicts,” Kavelashvili stated.

By Sabina Mammadli