“The Opposition Alliance appears to be on the verge of collapse, though we should not be fooled into thinking its members have any genuine ideological differences with one another. This is simply the latest rearrangement of the same forces that have long sought to harm our country. Their next tactical move will be to dissolve this toxic Opposition Alliance, or more precisely, to redistribute its parts across various groups,” stated the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili.

He added that Georgian society has seen this film before.

“How many times must they attempt these tricks on the Georgian people, as though the United National Movement is somehow no longer the United National Movement? The Alliance did, in fact, perform one genuine service for our society: it confirmed, once again, that there is no such thing as a former UNM. We saw them reunite, just as they always do. When I say UNM, I don’t mean party membership specifically, I mean ideology. Someone may not have held power during the United National Movement’s rule, or may never have been a card-carrying member of the party, and yet in their ideology they are a UNM through and through.

Equally, someone may have served in public office at the time but had the sense to distance themselves from that regime when it mattered. What we have witnessed is that UNMism, as an ideology, an anti-Georgian, anti-democratic ideology, is the binding force uniting all those within the Alliance. The Alliance has shown us that unified face plainly, and for that, oddly enough, we should thank the people foolish enough to bring everyone together under one roof. Society has been reminded, once again, that this is the same force. Now, the question of how they will splinter and who will migrate to which flank is simply the same tactical reshuffling orchestrated from abroad time and again here in Georgia. The Georgian people are no longer taken in by it,” said Shalva Papuashvili.