Anna Tsitlidze at Constitutional Court: Ivanishvili's 2012 Statements Would Be Absurd as Basis for Banning United National Movement

Anna Tsitlidze, representative of the United National Movement, told the Constitutional Court, while presenting the respondent's arguments, that in 2012 Georgian Dream came to power as a coalition alliance and Bidzina Ivanishvili directly indicated that if the government did not hand over power through elections, they would be forced to do so anyway. According to Tsitlidze, if the United National Movement considered this an action against the state and banned the coalition Georgian Dream of that time, it would be a classic absurdity and double standard.

According to her, "when Bidzina Ivanishvili and his coalition created a union and demanded to come to power, this was a democratic change, while when opposition parties today form a unity and express political protest against the government, this supposedly turns out to be anti-constitutional sabotage".

Tsitlidze also noted that the plaintiff has listed arguments which, in her view, confirm the unity of the parties' unconstitutional aims. The plaintiff claims that opposition parties would appear as qualitatively united in position and would form a coalition unity acting with common aspirations, citing as an example the creation of the "Opposition Alliance" on March 2, 2026.

According to Tsitlidze's assessment, if the ruling party declares political alliances and a united opposition front to be anti-constitutional sabotage, this means that it does not want a multi-party system in the country and aims to place any alternative opinion outside the law.

In her own words, "political union and coalition is not a crime, a crime is when the ruling party tries to declare its own political past and methods outside the law for others".