During those elections, he was the party's nominee for Mayor of Telavi, running against Georgian Dream's Alexandre Shatirishvili, to whom he lost with 29.1% of the vote.
[3] A vocal member critique of the Georgian Dream-led government since its rise to power in 2012, he was the UNM's nominee for the parliamentary district of Telavi in the 2016 legislative elections, running against ten candidates including GD's Irakli Sesiashvili.
[9] In the first round, he won 40.4% of the vote, securing a place in the runoffs,[10] which he boycotted due to allegations of massive voter fraud.
[11] Placed 27th on the electoral list of UNM,[12] he nonetheless won a seat in Parliament, which he refused to take at first, claiming that the elected legislature was illegitimate.
[15] In response to the arrest of former President Mikheil Saakashvili upon the latter's return to Georgia in 2021, Botkoveli was one of 300 activists to launch a mass hunger strike, calling for his immediate release.
[17] In July 2022, he was involved in a verbal clash in Telavi after local GD-affiliated city council members confronted him as he handed out pro-European Union flyers.