Giorgi Sharashidze, a member of the Gakharia for Georgia party, has called the prospect of banning a political party both incomprehensible and unconstitutional.

According to Sharashidze, a political party should be defeated through the democratic process of elections, not by legal bans.

“When you want to defeat a political party, first and foremost, you should do so through elections, just as is customary in civilised countries. Banning a party is a legal absurdity. But why does Georgian Dream do this? What can I tell you? Georgian Dream does not operate according to logic. You should ask them on what basis they decide to ban a party, if they ban it at all, and what criteria they use to decide who to ban and who to leave untouched.

Even if the United National Movement were to be banned, it would still exist as a factor of intimidation for the people. Time will tell whether this campaign of constitutional and party bans is merely another falsehood in the ongoing tug-of-war between Georgian Dream and the United National Movement. I am confident that Georgia Dream will never be able to eliminate the UNM as a factor of fear in the political landscape.

The UNM’s influence as a tool of intimidation will persist, even if they go through with banning the party. It’s unconstitutional, but I highly doubt they will do it, because the Georgian Dream will soon lose power without the UNM as its main source of fear and threat.

We cannot be surprised by the illogical steps taken by Georgian Dream. Let’s wait and see who is actually abolished and whether these bans are genuine. We have cooperated with Lelo, and of course, we do not wish to see it disappear. I am confident it will remain. Even if Georgian Dream achieves its goal, Lelo is a strong team, and no one can prohibit its political activities,” Sharashidze stated.

The Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, has presented a constitutional lawsuit seeking to declare the activities of the United National Movement, the Coalition for Change, and Strong Georgia–Lelo unconstitutional and to ban them.