“They haven’t been able to destroy us so far, and they won’t succeed,” said Giorgi Baramidze, the Political Secretary of United National Movement – Unity, regarding the ruling party’s decision not to file a constitutional lawsuit to ban opposition parties before the upcoming local self-government elections.

Speaking to the media, Baramidze stated:“As for participating in elections – of course, under these conditions of 'Kadyrovization' and Belarusization, we have no intention of participating in elections, nor will any other normal political party.”

He responded to the announcement by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which recently stated it would not file a constitutional lawsuit to ban opposition parties before the local elections. According to Baramidze, the intention to destroy the United National Movement has long been part of Georgian Dream’s agenda.

"As you know, when this servant of Putin, Borenka Ivanishvili, came to power, he publicly stated that his goal was to destroy the United National Movement. Instead of fulfilling the promises he made to the people—jobs, cheap loans, the prosperity he promised—all that ended up benefiting only him and his gang at the expense of robbing the people. What they say or don’t say doesn’t matter to us. I urge you, whether you're the press or other interested parties, to ignore this nonsense. They are simply engaged in PR."

"The plan to destroy the United National Movement has been in motion for a long time. They haven’t managed it yet, and they never will. As for participation in elections, I repeat: under these conditions of 'Kadyrovization' and Belarusization, we do not intend to participate, nor will any normal political party,” Baramidze emphasized.

For context, on April 14, Mamuka Mdinaradze, Executive Secretary of Georgian Dream, announced that the term of the parliamentary investigative commission would be extended by one month. He stated that this means the so-called "Collective UNM" (United National Movement) would again be allowed to participate in the elections. Georgian Dream also explained that a constitutional lawsuit to ban opposition parties would be prepared after their “artificial victory” in the local elections.

"We are ready for the Georgian people to give agent parties a proper response in this year’s local elections. We will secure an artificial victory and then prepare a solid, fact-based constitutional lawsuit that the Constitutional Court should objectively use as grounds to ban the 'Collective UNM' later this year, soon after the local elections," said Mdinaradze.