Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze commented on the initiative of the public movement affiliated with the Georgian Dream, known as United Neutral Georgia. This initiative, which includes the banning of opposition parties after the parliamentary elections, also involves exposing and prosecuting their voters. As Kobakhidze says, this idea "will not be actively discussed" by the ruling party.
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"As for prosecuting the parties, that is the first thing we are talking about. It is necessary to break the vicious cycle in Georgia, which is characterized by polarization and radicalism. If the collective National Movement is not declared unconstitutional - which we will certainly initiate the appropriate procedures for after the elections - then the problem of polarization in Georgia will never be resolved.
This political force, this coalition of political parties, will always be an obstacle to the development of Georgian democracy and the strengthening of our country.
As for the voters, I cannot discuss such a matter. Of course, it is impossible for me to prosecute the voters. While each voter is responsible for their own choice, we certainly cannot consider prosecuting tens of thousands of people. We cannot even begin to think about it, and of course, this idea cannot be actively discussed by us," Kobakhidze told journalists.
The Neutral Georgia movement, one of whose leaders is Vato Shakarashvili, a former member and supporter of the Georgian Dream, believes that, along with declaring the National Movement unconstitutional after the elections, the voters of the Collective National Movement must also be exposed and prosecuted. According to them, around 300,000 people "have been sustaining criminal political forces for years."
"Each voter of the radical opposition must share legal responsibility so that no one in this country dares to support an anti-state, externally managed entity, allowing them to commit further crimes," the organization stated today.
On the 12th anniversary of being in power, Georgian Dream has promised its supporters that if it obtains a constitutional majority - 113 mandates in the new parliament - it will initiate a legal process, as a result of which both the National Movement and all its satellite and successor parties will be banned. The ruling party includes almost all opposition political forces in the so-called collective national movement. As Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze explained, in addition to the National Movement, they plan to ban opposition parties such as Strategy Aghmashenebeli, European Georgia, Ahali, Girchi – More Freedom, Droa,Lelo, and Gakharia – For Georgia.
