[citation needed] Natelashvili started his political career in 1992 when he won a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections and became a majoritarian MP for the Dusheti region.

[8] The biggest success of the Labour Party came in the 2002 Tbilisi City Assembly election, in which the GLP secured a victory, finishing on the first place with 25.5% of the vote.

[10] On 13 June 2002, in a surprise move, Natelashvili announced that he would not strive for the chairmanship of Tbilisi City Assembly, instead supporting on this position other opposition leader and future President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose United National Movement only finished on 2nd place.

[9] The decision was controversial, as the chairmanship of Tbilisi City Assembly was seen as a powerful platform from which to criticize the government, and was perceived as providing a great leverage for its holder in the run-up to the 2003 Georgian parliamentary election.

Nonetheless, the party was not allowed to use its mandate, as an authorized institution illegally dissolved the parliament in the aftermath of the Rose Revolution.

The European Court of Human Rights recognized the Georgian Labour Party and Natelashvili as the victim of the falsified elections in its decision dated 8 July 2008.

The party leader had to flee for several days while the prosecutor's office accused Natelashvili of state treason and organizing mass unrest.

[citation needed] The government revoked all its allegations after the international community and the US ambassador to Georgia John F. Tefft intervened and cancelled the arrest warrant.

The political repercussions are thought by some to be steered by Bidzina Ivanishvili, who accused Natelashvili of having a clandestine alliance with former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili.

Natelashili is often seen in the Russian-Georgian conflict zones where he organizes rallies to protest against illegal construction of borders and fences on the territory of Georgia by the Russian armed forces.