“This is not a total fight against corruption!” The people who are being targeted do not represent the main centers of power — fighting elite corruption does not mean poking around former officials! Fighting elite corruption means confronting current, influential, powerful figures, and we are not seeing that — we are far from it, and under this government, we won’t see it.

This is how Lasha Tughushi, head of the organization Liberal Academy, evaluates the arrests of former high-ranking officials under the “Georgian Dream” government.

As Tughushi said on PalitraNews’s program Daily Newsroom, there is no systemic approach to fighting corruption, and what we are currently seeing is an internal power redistribution process within the ruling party.

Tughushi also noted that when authoritarianism is being established in a country, internal struggles emerge between different centers of power within the ruling elite.

"If we were seeing a systemic fight against corruption, then other facts would also surface — the kind of facts that we hear from the media. For instance, we would see cases in the regions, involving relatives of government officials, who pocket all the money allocated to those regions. We know of cases where someone’s uncle or cousin takes all the funds intended for a specific region.”

“Anywhere you go, you’ll hear that corruption is a problem. This is not a surprise for us. Corruption has become a serious problem for Georgian citizens, and that’s why a reaction is necessary.”

Tughushi further explained that current developments revolve around a few specific figures — such as the current prime minister, the former prime minister, and senior officials from the ministries of economy and defense — around whom financial interests have accumulated and are now resulting in internal clashes.

"Those detained aren’t saying anything now, but once they start to realize how grim their own future looks, some of them will definitely begin to speak up. Then it will become clearer where this current is heading — whether it has the potential to turn or stop.”

According to Tughushi, if the country had a strong pro-Western political elite today, it wouldn’t be in this state, and the situation would be much better. He emphasized that one of the recurring mistakes of the opposition is that in critical situations, instead of uniting, they continue to fight each other.

“We need serious reflection and conclusions about why this is happening to us.”

"If judges have even a little sense left, they should avoid issuing draconian, illegal, and shameless rulings like some of them are currently doing. Of course, they understand very well that this situation cannot last long — it simply cannot! So it’s not hard to understand that they will not be forgiven for sentencing young people to prison for doing absolutely nothing wrong.”

Tughushi added that having sanctioned judges in a country shows there are serious problems not only with democracy, but with overall development.

"So many sanctions, so much negativity — it clearly shows that we have deep problems and we must reflect on why all this has happened. It’s not just about changing the current government — though of course it’s clear what this political force represents — we also need to think about what happened to us. We must reflect and draw conclusions, so we don’t repeat the same mistakes.”

“If we had a strong pro-Western political elite, I think we wouldn’t be in such a situation — we’d be in a much better place. That’s why they too need to draw conclusions so we don’t keep spinning in the same vicious circle.”

“The mistake the opposition keeps making is that in critical moments, instead of unity, they remain divided. We saw this in the 1990s, in 2000, in 2010 — there are many examples of moments when unity was absolutely necessary. Today is another one of those moments, but we don’t see unity.”

"There are different political forces, yes, but unity means taking joint action against the opposing force. Right now, not only is there no unity, they are fighting each other — that is a mistake we never learn from. That means something is wrong with us,” said Lasha Tughushi.

He also said that, given the current situation in the country, the possibility of calling new parliamentary elections cannot be ruled out, and that we should be prepared for it, considering many factors.

According to him, if new elections are called, it should not be just a battlefield for political parties — the entire society should speak up.

“The Georgian Dream team knows very well that it does not have real public support, and that internal and external political factors, as well as upcoming social and economic problems, will only deepen.”

"If new parliamentary elections are called, it must be the voice of society as a whole — not just a battlefield for political parties. If we leave it solely to the parties, we will again see the kind of internal fighting that doesn’t benefit the country at all — that would be a formula for defeat! If we want a formula for victory, that means the majority of society must clearly tell these people that this kind of internal political confrontation we are witnessing is not what we need.”

“If we want the country to win, pro-Western forces must unite — even if there will be some competition between them,” said Lasha Tughushi.