Teona Zurabashvili 

It can be assumed that in the local elections of October 2 2021, political polarization was not the main factor that led to consolidation of opposition votes around the UNM, but the political decision of the small parties per se to remain in a domain that was most affected by the existing political polarization. They didn’t have a long-term strategy to attract voters who have different preferences from the polarized political agenda.