The 2024 parliamentary elections are a kind of referendum where the Georgian people must finally decide whether they choose war or peace, moral degradation or traditional values, Georgia’s subservience to external powers or an independent and sovereign state, and ultimately, whether they choose the collective “National Movement” or the Georgian Dream. The Political Council of the ruling Georgian Dream party stated on Tuesday.

The party asserts that if the Georgian Dream secures a parliamentary majority, it will successfully accomplish its short-term, four-year objective: ensuring the triumph of peace, traditional values, and the concept of state sovereignty in Georgia.

“However, alongside this immediate objective, we have a long-term goal to ensure Georgia’s lasting, sustainable peace and security, which requires Georgian Dream to secure a high constitutional majority. Recognizing our responsibility to the Georgian people, we feel bound to clarify why we need this constitutional majority:

Firstly, we need to attain a constitutional majority to qualitatively improve the political system, which is impossible without removing the collective UNM from politics. As soon as we secure a constitutional majority, we will initiate legal proceedings to declare the United National Movement and all its satellite or successor parties unconstitutional.

Despite 12 years having passed since the removal of the criminal regime from power, it has not yet been brought to justice, which has its objective reasons. Primarily, their foreign patrons actively demanded that the perpetrators not be prosecuted, which created a decisive obstacle to holding the regime accountable. Nevertheless, we managed to administer justice for specific grave crimes committed by dozens of high, middle, and low-ranking representatives of the regime, including the former president, former prime minister, former ministers, and other high-ranking officials. The corresponding verdicts have, over the years, created a solid foundation for prosecuting the regime.

We also remind you that proceedings were conducted in The Hague and Strasbourg over the past years, which, through Georgian Dream’s efforts, concluded with victories for Georgia and the Georgian army. Against the backdrop of The Hague and Strasbourg processes, investigating the 2008 crime involved significant risks, which have now been fully mitigated.

What is particularly important is that instead of repenting for the 2008 crime, after the start of the war in Ukraine, the collective National Movement once again pushed and continues to push Georgia towards war. In this context, bringing this criminal force to justice has acquired an entirely new urgency,” the statement reads.

The statement from the Georgian Dream’s Political Council asserts that the collective UNM still has powerful external patrons.

“These are the forces that have been coordinating all campaigns against Georgia over the past two years, including the ‘second front’ campaign, both locally and internationally. We must demonstrate to these forces that the removal of the collective UNM from the political system is the decision of the vast majority of the Georgian people, a constitutional majority.

The October elections should serve as a kind of political Nuremberg judgment for the United National Movement, which would lay a solid foundation for the corresponding legal process. It is precisely because of this external factor that it is crucial for Georgian Dream to secure a constitutional majority to bring the UNM to justice.

Given the numerous crimes committed by the UNM against the Georgian state and its people, we cannot allow them to continue fulfilling external orders and causing permanent damage to the state. It is unacceptable for a political force responsible for the 2008 crime to retain even a theoretical possibility of returning to power, especially given the challenges Georgia faces amid ongoing military conflicts in the region. In a situation where the role of the opposition is played by a criminal group of externally controlled politicians – the collective ‘National Movement’ – the state is constantly forced to navigate a minefield, keeping the risk of losing the country perpetually relevant.

We all remember the attempted coup that followed the suspicious verdict in the Khorava Street murder case. The judge, who still enjoys questionable privileges from foreigners, disregarded the charges brought by the prosecution and issued an incomprehensible verdict, which caused public outrage. However, the opposition and NGOs raised the issue of the prosecutor’s responsibility rather than the judge’s. Moreover, the protest evolved into revolutionary processes. At that time, it was difficult for society to comprehend who had planned and coordinated these processes and for what purpose.

Fortunately, all this happened well before the elections and not during the pre-election period.

Otherwise, everything could have ended tragically, and the artificially orchestrated scenario might have resulted in the return of agents to power. It took months for society to realize that the government bore no blame in the matter. This example best illustrates the risks associated with implementing such scenarios against the backdrop of artificially fueled polarization,” the statement concludes.

The Georgian Dream party also asserts that throughout these years, fully legitimate elections have not been held in Georgia.

“In a healthy democratic system, society should have a choice between good and better options. However, in the Georgian reality, on one side there is the Georgian Dream party, which strives to preserve the state, and on the other side, there is the collective National Movement, which is entirely controlled from outside and is constantly engaged in hostility towards the state. When the same political force retains power over three terms, it somewhat puts a shadow on the democratic process.

In a healthy democratic system, political forces that are better than their predecessors should alternate in power at regular intervals, which is impossible in the current situation. Fully legitimate elections in Georgia will only be held after healthy opposition forces replace the collective UNM in the political system.

It is our duty to the Georgian state to permanently change the unhealthy state of the political system and establish an institutionalized party system, which is a necessary condition for the functioning of a full-fledged democratic system.

The country cannot constantly live in a regime of revolutions and attempts to destabilize the nation, waiting idly for the detonation of the mine that is radicalism and polarization artificially imposed from outside through the collective UNM. Therefore, declaring the collective UNM unconstitutional is a necessary condition for establishing long-term peace in Georgia and forming a proper democratic social order.

Here’s the translation from Georgian to English with improved grammar and vocabulary:

2) A constitutional bill on the Protection of Family Values and Minors has already been initiated in the Georgian Parliament. The spread of pseudo-liberal ideology in the world and Georgia is gradually becoming more dangerous. The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, which contained extremely crude and outrageous elements of blasphemy, insult to Christian religious feelings, and LGBT propaganda, once again reminded us of the scale of the threat associated with the spread of pseudo-liberal ideology. This ideology has nothing to do with protecting human rights, and its sole purpose is to completely strip humans of dignity, morality, and any identity. A person should not even know for certain whether they are a man or a woman. A person should not know their own roots, or the history of their country, and should not have a national, religious, or personal identity. The task of pseudo-liberal ideology is to produce the lowest-ranking slave who will easily submit to manipulation. Obtaining a constitutional majority will allow the Georgian Dream party to pass the aforementioned constitutional bill, which will strengthen the protection of family values and minors at the highest, constitutional level. After the adoption of the constitutional law, no one will ever be able to impose on us the legalization of same-sex civil partnerships, adoption of children by same-sex couples, sex change operations, legal establishment of genders other than male and female, propaganda of pseudo-liberal ideology in educational institutions or mass media, and other vices that have already led many countries to very severe consequences.

3) One of the main national tasks of our country is the restoration of Georgia’s territorial integrity. In case of peaceful restoration of Georgia’s territorial integrity, it will be necessary to amend the Constitution of Georgia to bring Georgia’s governance system and territorial state structure in line with the new reality. Given that events around Georgia are developing very dynamically, we must be ready for such a scenario at any time. Considering the anti-state approaches of the opposition, it can be said with certainty that in such a case, they will also fulfil external orders and oppose the constitutional changes necessary for the restoration of territorial integrity. Accordingly, the Georgian Dream needs a constitutional majority so that no one can create obstacles to implementing the necessary constitutional changes if needed.

4) There is another, fourth issue, the constitutional regulation of which could be of great importance for protecting Georgia’s identity and national values. However, consultations on this issue are still ongoing, and we will likely share our position on it by the end of the month. Solving the above-mentioned strategic tasks is crucial for Georgia’s long-term stable development. However, there is another equally important, and even more significant issue that requires the Georgian Dream to obtain a constitutional majority to resolve. Georgia is still facing an immediate threat of war, and avoiding it is Georgia’s primary task today and tomorrow. A small misstep, one wrong move, and we might lose the country altogether, after which not only constitutional changes but nothing else will matter. Now, when the war in the region is counting its last months, Georgian society needs maximum mobilization to maintain the peace that has been preserved with great effort so far and to prevent the country from destruction and ruin. The main thing now is to somehow preserve the country over these few months, and then nothing will stand in the way of its unhindered development,” the statement reads.

In conclusion, the Georgian Dream calls upon all citizens who value peace, stability, and traditional values in Georgia to participate en masse in the October 26 elections.

“If the stay-at-home voters or the opposition’s electorate had won in 2020 or 2021, Georgia would be in a worse situation than Ukraine today, and we would no longer have a country. In the future, we must not allow such a risk even at a theoretical level. The greater the electoral support for the Georgian Dream, the less temptation there will be for Georgia’s ill-wishers to try once again to destabilize the country, return their agents – the local war party – to power, and open a second front in Georgia. The greater the electoral support for the Georgian Dream, the calmer November, December, and the next 4 years will be. The more support the Georgian Dream receives, the fewer obstacles the country’s overall progress and economic development would face.

Consequently, our country’s number one task in these elections is to strengthen peace as much as possible, for which each voter’s vote is of particular importance. Moreover, the share of mandates that the Georgian Dream receives will directly correspond to the rate by which peace will be strengthened and reinforced in our country.

Furthermore, the more votes Georgian Dream receives, the faster and more effectively Georgia’s relations with the United States and the European Union will be reset, and the more firmly Georgia’s national interests will be protected in the international arena.

Therefore, we need every single person to cast their ballot to ensure that we don’t even allow a theoretical risk of losing the country and that Georgia strengthens its position in international politics as much as possible.

Each vote for the Georgian Dream means a stronger guarantee of peace, stability, and development for Georgia. We call on all our fellow citizens who value peace in Georgia, the country’s stability and traditional values, to come out en masse on October 26 and create a solid foundation for protecting Georgia’s national identity and ensuring our country’s bright future.

For those who hold the country dear, put everything aside and come out to vote. Set aside all narrow political issues because these elections are not about politics, but about saving the country. Everything is in our hands, Georgia’s fate is in our hands, and we must do everything to save the country and leave a free, independent, united, and strong Georgia for future generations to govern,” the statement says.