Gegelia: Party Ban Process Is Process of Banning Free Georgia

Labor Party Foreign Secretary Grigol Gegelia said on the "Politi-Kalaki" program of Palitra News that the process of banning parties is a process of banning free Georgia. According to him, what matters to Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder and honorary chairman of Georgian Dream, is that an optical illusion of political diversity exists, but not an opposition that could change it.

Gegelia said: "I think what is happening today in the Constitutional Court concerns all Georgians. A million Georgians are being told that the choice they made is not constitutional." In his assessment, parties are being banned because five opposition forces specifically demonstrated a high resource and potential for mobilizing votes.

According to the politician, Georgian Dream cannot bring charges against political opponents that it has not committed itself. In his words, "today Georgian Dream is writing its own indictment, Roinishvili and Sharmanashvili are judging themselves." Gegelia added that talking about terrorism is absurd, since the ruling team itself stands with Hezbollah and Hamas.

Answering the host's question on whether filing a lawsuit could be a response to Western criticism, Gegelia said that Ivanishvili responds to external pressure by harming Georgia. According to him, Ivanishvili is showing his strength to Europe. Gegelia also referred to the cyanide case as a case arranged by Ivanishvili and said that Ivanishvili attacked the Patriarchate.

According to Gegelia's assessment, declaring parties unconstitutional is complete nonsense, and this will be the last straw after which Ivanishvili will have no resources left to retreat. According to him, the case concerns five parties that together have more than a million voters. The politician maintains that legal and political responsibility for this case will certainly follow.

Regarding future plans, Gegelia said that they will continue political activity and use every possible form of struggle. According to him, if the lawsuit is satisfied, democracy in the country will be completely abolished, fictitious opposition parties will be created, and ultimately Georgia will resemble a "Russian swamp" where investors will not come.