Proposal from the ruling party • “Would be the end of Georgia’s democracy”
The ruling Georgian ruling party, Georgian Dream, wants to shut down the opposition if they win the election this fall.
In a statement of intent, the party claims that it wants to make the country safe and improve the political system.
– The only parallel that can be drawn to this is to Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus or North Korea, says Tinatin Akhvlediani, researcher at the think tank CEPS.
There has been a storm in Georgian politics in the year since the ruling Georgian Dream party voted through the criticized “foreign agents law”, called by the critics the “Russian law”. The bill was met with massive protests and was voted through after a full-scale fight in parliament.
This week new news came from Georgian Dream – they want to ban the opposition if they win the election this fall.
The governing party: A choice between war and peace
On social media, Georgian Dream shared a statement of intent this week announcing that it wants to ban the main opposition party, the United National Movement, if it gets a large enough majority in the election.
During Friday, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, announced that they will try to ban basically all opposition parties, reports Politico.
“Criminal members of the criminal political forces should not exercise the status of a member of the Parliament of Georgia,” Kobakhidze said in a speech on Friday.
In order to implement the constitutional amendment, a majority of at least 113 of the 150 mandates in the parliament is required. Today, the party has 74 of the mandates. The election is described by the ruling party as a choice between war and peace and between traditional values and moral decay.
“Once we have achieved a constitutional majority, we will initiate a legal process that will declare the ‘United National Movement’ and all its satellites and successors unconstitutional,” the statement said.
“Would be the end of Georgia’s democracy”
Parliamentary elections in Georgia take place on October 26 and six opposition parties have already decided to work together to replace the incumbent government – which they say is moving away from the EU and towards Russia.
The idea of banning the opposition has also received strong criticism.
– That would be the end of Georgia’s democracy, says Akhvlediani, researcher at the think tank Center for European Policy Studies, CEPS to Politico.
She believes that the proposal can only be compared with countries such as Belarus and North Korea.
– This will effectively ban any opposition that Georgian Dream sees as a threat, says Akhvlediani.