A March 2016 opinion poll commissioned by the International Republican Institute showed Burchuladze's Georgian Development Foundation as being not too far behind from the ruling Georgian Dream coalition and the main opposition United National Movement, garnering 12%, 19%, and 18%, respectively. On 12 May 2016, Burchuladze announced the foundation of a new political organization, State for the People, and his intention to take part in the upcoming parliamentary election. Two months after the party's failure in the election, in December 2016, Burchuladze announced his withdrawal from politics and return to opera. In July 2017, Burchuladze became the director of the opera division of the Moscow-based Mikhailovsky Theater, one of Russia's oldest opera and ballet houses.