MP Kadagishvili: ALDE supported opposition election boycott but said nothing about it being blow to democracy

Irakli Kadagishvili, Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Regional Policy and Self-Government Committee, said the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) had supported the boycott of elections by opposition parties in Georgia without considering that the parties had rejected their voters’ will in elections held in a competitive environment and reflecting the electorate’s choice.

“They did not tell these parties that this amounted to undermining the democratic process and disregarding their own voters. They did not say then what constitutes an attack on democracy. At the time, they applauded the local radicals, called on them to take to the streets and pointed them toward the barricades. Now they should tell these fairy tales to protesters in their own countries,” Kadagishvili said.

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) said that major opposition parties in Georgia face the threat of being banned, potentially depriving hundreds of thousands of Georgian voters of political representation.

The Constitutional Court is currently hearing Georgian Dream’s constitutional lawsuit seeking to declare the activities of the United National Movement, Coalition for Change, Strong Georgia–Lelo, the Federalists and Gakharia for Georgia unconstitutional and ban the parties.