“The issue is very simple – there are political parties, the civil sector, activists, and Salome Zourabichvili. The main task of all four groups is to secure elections. If we start dividing each other instead of working together, of course, nothing will happen,” Giorgi Butikashvili, a member of the Coalition for Change, said.

According to Giorgi Butikashvili, the goal of the government’s initiative to ban several political parties is to weaken the opposition and seize the state fully.

“We should not forget that the parties, civil society and activists who have been fighting for more than a year are engaged in a fundamental confrontation. This is not a competition between political forces – this is a struggle to save statehood. They are trying to ban those parties they fear, the ones that could pose a real challenge in future elections. This is a fight for the state, for a European future – a future that ‘Georgian Dream’ has boycotted. They do not want Georgia to be a member of European structures nor part of the Bologna Process,” he said.

Butikashvili added that unity is essential, and internal opposition disputes only serve the interests of the ruling party.

“It becomes very difficult when opposition parties attack each other. This will never lead to a solution. ‘Georgian Dream’ chose to target these three parties and not the smaller ones precisely to sow division. We must not allow ourselves to turn against each other and deepen fragmentation – that is exactly what the ruling party wants,” he said.

The comments follow a statement by the Chairman of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, announcing that the Georgian Dream faction, along with the political groups People’s Power and the European Socialists, has submitted a constitutional lawsuit requesting that three opposition parties be declared unconstitutional and banned. These include: National Movement, Coalition for Change and Strong Georgia–Lelo.