Georgian PM: Georgia needs a healthy opposition that talks to the people, and the party ban case serves that aim

“Subjectively, it might actually suit us to have an opposition that has been reduced to zero like this, but that is not good for our democratic and political system. Our political system needs not this kind of opposition but a healthy, principled one that talks to the people, and that is exactly what the process launched at the Constitutional Court is meant to achieve,” Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists.

He said that during the hearing, the actions and statements of these political forces are proving why they deserve to be banned.

“You can see that these political parties have no resources anywhere. So, in theory, someone might ask: if this group of parties is so weak, why ban them at all? There is a very simple explanation. Of course, subjectively, it might suit us to have an opposition that has been reduced to zero like this, but that is not good for our democratic and political system. Our political system needs not this kind of opposition but a healthy, principled one that talks to the people, and that is exactly what the process launched at the Constitutional Court is meant to achieve.

I have been following the speeches, including those by representatives of these forces, and the funny thing is that they are proving why they should be banned with their own words, through their own statements about the Constitutional Court, the common courts and so on. They are supplying the evidence for their own ban out of their own mouths. I think that after these few days it will become very clear to society why these political parties should be banned. Our society already knows this, but it will see further evidence of it at the hearing,” Kobakhidze said.