Sociologist compares protests in Georgia to dormant volcano

Yago Kachkachishvili on protests in Georgia

On air of the “Free Studio” broadcast, Georgian sociologist Yago Kachkachishvili expressed the opinion that the mass protests in Georgia, which lasted for over 100 days, have now entered a waiting phase but could flare up again and intensify if any trigger arises.

The sociologist also lamented the noticeable decrease in the activity of the country’s fifth president, Salome Zourabichvili, who was initially at the forefront of these protests.

It is worth recalling that Salome Zourabichvili’s presidential term expired in December 2025. However, the opposition and a significant portion of civil society continue to consider her the president of the country and do not recognize the legitimacy of the new president, Mikheil Kavelashvili, appointed by the Georgian Dream party.

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Yago Kachkachishvili:

“Some may say that active protests [in Georgia] have decreased and their scale is no longer what it was at the beginning. But daily protests cannot truly be on a large scale.

It seems to me that the protests have not weakened, but are rather in a waiting mode. There is a protest, and with every new ‘trigger,’ it grows and multiplies. The scale of the protest may have changed, but the strength of the protest remains the same. For example, let’s recall the protest on February 25 [2025], when 10,000 people took to the streets again. It’s like a volcano: it may ‘fall asleep,’ but if something ‘wakes it up,’ it will start erupting again.”

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The political activity of Salome Zourabichvili within the country has weakened and slowed down. Zourabichvili is no longer involved in ongoing internal processes as actively as before. I don’t know the reason: perhaps she is working on a new agreement and took a temporary break, or there are disagreements with political parties.

But if work is being done, it needs to be communicated to the public. The public should be informed about the situation; there should be no behind-the-scenes processes that the public is not aware of.

I see a significant difference between Salome Zourabichvili’s political activity when she was president and now, when she is no longer officially the president. This difference is noticeable and obvious. Personally, I and many opposition-minded voters expected her activity not to decrease. If, however, active work is indeed being done “behind the scenes,” it would be better if those behind-the-scenes activities were more transparent and the public knew what was happening.

I say this because, according to our latest research, the only politician with a high level of favorability among the general electorate is Salome Zourabichvili. Personally, I would not advise Salome Zourabichvili to waste or lose this advantage.