Tsereteli remained in Georgia throughout the summer of 1906 recovering from his illness, and was not politically active. Even so, he was invited to stand as the Social Democratic candidate for the Russian legislative elections in January 1907, representing the Kutais Governorate, his home region. He was encouraged to do so by a fellow Georgian Menshevik, Noe Zhordania; later political opponents who disagreed on nearly every topic, Zhordania would later recall in his memoirs "that this was the only time that Irakli ever listened to me." All seven seats in Georgia were won by the Social Democrats.