Mayor Kaladze: Party ban hearings will be fully open, and the public will see our arguments

“We have concrete arguments, which we will once again present to the wider public. Everything will be completely open, and the public will see what is going on. The rest is for the court to decide,” Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said of the upcoming Constitutional Court hearings on declaring five political parties unconstitutional.

He said the parties’ actions had put them in direct conflict with the Georgian state.

“If you aspire to be in politics and call yourself a politician, then first and foremost you must serve your country and take your mandate from your people. For years, we faced a sad reality. Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia pulled back the curtain on that reality and completely exposed these so-called political parties, which served not the Georgian people and the Georgian state but outside forces. Through specific decisions and statements, they came into direct conflict with the Georgian state. They did not serve the Georgian people or our country; they were openly hostile to the state. So such politicians and political parties have no business being in politics,” Kaladze said.

He said the hearings would be entirely transparent.

“We have concrete arguments, which we will once again present to the wider public. Nothing will be closed or hidden. Everything will be completely open, and the public will see what is going on and what arguments we have. The rest is for the court to decide,” the mayor said.

He also pointed to party bans in Ukraine and Moldova, which, he said, had drawn no sharp criticism.

“It is the usual double standard, not just on this issue but on very many others. Take the violent protests in various European countries and cities. And we remember the violent protests in Georgia, with physical and verbal abuse and stones and Molotov cocktails being thrown. We didn’t hear a single word of condemnation. On the contrary, they encouraged and facilitated it all. Did you see any criticism levelled at Ukraine, where 17 or 18 parties were banned? Or Moldova, where two or three parties were outlawed? And let’s not forget, we are talking about recent years,” Kaladze stated.

He said no one has the right to interfere in the country’s domestic politics.

“For years, until 2012, it was the case that whatever was demanded from outside was taken as gospel, and we had to act as foreign capitals, or some particular ambassador, said. No, it cannot be like that. Today we are stronger than ever. Our state is strong, anchored by its institutions, and the sovereign Georgian people, not outside individuals, companies, or foreign interest groups, ultimately decide everything. Of course, we want friendship and partnership with everyone, but not at the cost of giving up our country’s interests. We want neither friendship nor partnership at Georgia’s expense. We want healthy relations,” Kaladze said.