Chechelashvili: Banning Parties Will Plunge Country into Deep Political Crisis

According to Valeri Chechelashvili, co-founder of "Lelo for Georgia", if the Constitutional Court makes a decision on banning political parties, it will be a sign that the country is entering a deep political crisis. He made this statement on the "Political Space" program on Palitranews.

Chechelashvili said that there are several issues to be decided for fair and transparent elections: who votes, who takes part in elections, who counts the votes and who summarizes the results. According to him, there are serious shortcomings in all three components. "It is somewhat difficult for me to understand how much sense it makes to hold elections at all without political parties," he said.

To normalize the political process, he said, parties must have the opportunity to take part in elections freely.

According to Chechelashvili, in the event of a ban, Georgia's isolation on the international arena will increase. "In any case, our relations with the European Union and the United States of America will enter an even more difficult phase," he said.

Asked why Georgian Dream has accelerated the process of banning parties and whether this is linked to the adoption of a resolution on Georgia as a kind of blackmail, Chechelashvili replied that the ban will not have a positive impact on Europeans and will cause great harm to the country.

He said that it is difficult to talk about the logic of the ruling party, as it is a very closed political system and it is unknown how internal discussion takes place and whether there is an alternative opinion there. Chechelashvili added that the Honorary Chairman has an unconditional influence on decisions.

He noted that "Georgian Dream" is in contradiction with itself: in the public sphere, one of its tools is the principle of transparency, but regarding its own actions this principle does not function.

"If Georgian Dream is guided by such views, this is a very short-sighted and myopic attitude, because it will not have a positive impact on the decision of Europeans and will cause very great harm to the country because we will enter a very deep isolation," Chechelashvili said.