The 2026 Georgian patriarchal election is to be held after the passing of Ilia II of Georgia who was Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia from 1977. His funeral was set on 22 March 2026.
Under his tenure, the church became one of the most influential institutions and Ilia II of Georgia was regarded as a respected authority across the political spectrum. Critics however noted the church's lack of criticism to the ruling Georgian Dream party. Ilia II was seen as a conservative figure.
The Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church will nominate three candidates. Each member of the Synod is allowed to name a candidate and the three candidates with the most votes will be presented to the Extended Council of the GOC. The Locum Tenens has to convene the council no sooner than forty days and no later than two months after the start of the vacancy. If no candidate receives the majority of the votes, a second round between the two candidates with the most votes will be held. Metropolitan bishop Shio Mujiri was appointed Locum. To be eligible, the candidate has to be ethnically Georgian, a monk and a bishop of the GOC, have a theological education and sufficient experience in church governance and be between the ages of 40 and 70.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace described Locum Shio (Mujiri) as the front-runner of the election who is seen as the favourite of the Georgian Dream government and made anti-Western and conservative statements. They call Metropolitan his main rival who also shares his conservative views. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service accused the Ecumenical Patriarchy of backing the Metropolitans and Grigoli (Berbichashvili), the former being above the maximum age to be eligible. Other contenders include South Ossetian Nikozi and Tskhinvali diocese and . Daniel and Iobi are more moderate than Shio overall.
Locum Shio (Mujiri) previously came out against recognising the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. According to Levan Sutidze he would increase Russian influence in the GOC. The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service accused the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I of trying to interfere in the election. The head of GOC's public relations service Andria Jagmaidze stated that "such interference by an autocephalous church is unimaginable for us."
There had been concerns that the Georgian government would try to interfere. Gia Gachechiladze called anyone would not endorse Shio (Mujiri) a "traitor". Metropolitan called the authorities "not to allow themselves to interfere in the ChurchâÂÂs internal election" though he said that the state would be unlikely to intervene. Giga Parulava from For Georgia called both opposition and governing parties from restraining to influence the election.