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Month: October 2025
Opinion on party bans in Georgia
Political analyst and former Georgian Dream MP Dimitri Tskitishvili commented on Georgian Dream’s constitutional lawsuit to ban opposition parties. He said the ruling party intends to target only three opposition parties, rather than all as promised to voters, because it fears jeopardising opportunities to start trade with the European Union.
The speaker of the Georgian Dream parliamentary faction, Shalva Papuashvili, named the parties the ruling party intends to challenge in the Constitutional Court. Georgian Dream will seek to have three opposition forces declared unconstitutional: Unity – National Movement, Coalition for Change, and Strong Georgia – Lelo.
According to Papuashvili, the political groups in question are in fact “a coalition acting with shared goals that poses a threat to the country’s constitutional order.”
Dimitri Tskitishvili said: “Georgian Dream’s promise to abolish all parties they labelled as ‘Nazis’ (i.e., linked to the United National Movement — JAMnews) has instead led them, after filing the lawsuit, to develop a new strategy.
They want to ban a few parties, and we still don’t know exactly what they aim to achieve. Their position is inconsistent, and they are not fulfilling their original promises — that is a fact. We’ll see how this develops.
I do not rule out that, given changes in global dynamics, they are being cautious and trying to slightly adjust their stance. They may be preparing for some dialogue [with the West] and leaving room for compromise. Perhaps I am projecting hopes onto reality, but this lawsuit did not carry the harsh tone they had initially promised.”
“I think they are leaving some room for trade with the European Union and the United States. The fact is, Russia is now in a far more difficult position than just three or four days ago, before the oil sanctions were imposed.
It has emerged that Georgian Dream had plans to profit from transporting sanctioned oil and using a shadow fleet, and the situation with the [Kulevi plant] revealed this. The EU has raised certain questions with Georgia, and behind the diplomatic language in its letter there are very strict demands to take measures regarding secondary goods, since Georgia could effectively become a transit hub for sanctioned cargo.
Suddenly, the global context and attitudes have shifted. India is no longer buying [Russian] oil, China has reduced purchases of Russian raw materials… the sanctions are working. I think Georgian Dream senses an opportunity to start some form of trade.
This does not mean the West will engage in it. I am simply saying that Georgian Dream may be preparing for this. They are trying to negotiate, but there is no initiative coming from the European Union.”
“I’m not sure how feasible opposition unity is. When it comes to unity, there are always caveats: some parties don’t want to work with others, so tensions remain. Polarisation within the opposition is even sharper than before. In February–March there were still some formats for exchanging views, but now these have significantly decreased and become even more fragmented.
I think unity is desirable but unrealistic, so it’s necessary to focus on more practical goals. Communication between parties needs to be restored, even though the party system has lost its meaning due to the situation created by Georgian Dream. A single strategic line needs to be established outside party structures.
It would be preferable for unregistered political groups to conduct their pre-election activities while maintaining a unified line and strategy aimed against Georgian Dream, focused on strengthening alternative viewpoints. The fight should be against disinformation, not against each other.”
Opinion on party bans in Georgia
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Opinion: Georgia is under Ivanishvili’s dictatorship
According to Sandro Baramidze, a representative of Transparency International Georgia, the country is now under the dictatorship of a single man — Bidzina Ivanishvili, the honorary chairman of Georgian Dream and Georgia’s de facto ruler.
Baramidze commented on Georgian Dream’s recent push to investigate alleged corruption among former high-ranking officials, saying the government’s actions are not a genuine fight against corruption but rather a selective exposure of isolated cases.
Transparency International Georgia (TI) issued a statement revealing evidence of corruption among former senior Georgian officials, noting it has documented 250 cases of high-level corruption over the past five years. At a press briefing, the organisation presented several schemes allegedly used by top officials for personal enrichment.
According to the organisation, 221 senior officials are implicated in the corruption schemes, including 38 ministers and deputy ministers, 40 members of parliament, 17 judges, and 67 high-ranking municipal officials.
Sandro Baramidze said: “Georgian Dream is now simply eliminating its competitors — at least trying to remove three [opposition forces], and the [constitutional lawsuit to ban parties] serves exactly this purpose.
This is a typical dictatorship, established by one man who simply does not want to hear critical opinions or see rivals in parliament. Yes, Gakharia’s party was allowed [into parliament] — there were probably negotiations and a deal, I don’t know, that’s their business. But look at Gakharia’s party’s results in the municipal elections. With that level of support, it will not be able to pass the threshold in the next parliamentary elections, whatever form they take: regular or early.”
“The investigation into individual former officials is not a genuine fight against corruption, because corruption under Georgian Dream is systemic and widespread.
Our organisation has published very significant figures. We identified 250 high-level cases of corruption, 221 of which involved senior officials — ministers, their deputies, judges, members of parliament, and municipal leaders. There are strong grounds to speak of a decade-long corruption network amounting to up to five billion dollars, linked to public procurement.
Does anyone in power talk about corruption on this scale? They have previously claimed that corruption does not exist and that everything is fine. Three months ago, the head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Kuprashvili, said he had reviewed the declarations of former Prime Minister Garibashvili, former SSS head Liluashvili, and others, and found nothing. Now it turns out there were very serious problems?
These are not isolated cases — there are at least 250. This is not about individual officials, but about the entire system.
Where there is political corruption, where one person has seized control of state institutions and unilaterally appoints officials across the board, financial and economic corruption inevitably follows.”
Opinion: Georgia is under Ivanishvili’s dictatorship