"What's the logic? I don't get it. Until 2012, the person who was a key part of this 'bloody regime' (by their own logic) is now banning a party whose majority of main spokespeople had zero connection to politics before 2012," stated Irakli Pavlenishvili, Deputy General Secretary of the "United National Movement," on PalitraNews program 'Political Space'.

According to Pavlenishvili, the very people banning the "National Movement" were influential figures in the "National Movement" during the previous government.

"It's utterly ridiculous. Personally, me, Irakli Pavlenishvili, is being banned by someone who was a high-ranking official in the 'National Movement' before 2012 - either donating money, holding a senior position, or being a 'National' bootlicker - while at that time, I was in school, playing water polo, living a different life. What's the logic? I don't get it. Until 2012, the person who was a key part of this 'bloody regime' (by their own logic) is banning a party whose majority of main spokespeople had zero connection to politics before 2012.

These people are banning us - people who were far more influential figures during that period," Pavlenishvili noted.

When asked how political processes would continue if the "National Movement" is banned, Irakli Pavlenishvili responded that only more obstructive factors would emerge, since the electoral process for political parties has already been killed and elections no longer take place in Georgia.

"The only thing that might change is that more obstructive factors could appear; otherwise, nothing fundamentally changes because the classic existence of parties corresponds to electoral democracy. When electoral democracy is established in a country, parties naturally function in a standard constructive democratic manner - elections are held, you have party infrastructure, receive funding, etc. In our case, this process has already been killed; there is no longer an electoral process.

In reality, when we talk about so-called 'elections' and say that elections do not take place in Georgia - because what happened truly wasn't elections - we would have participated in municipal elections too. These people have killed the electoral process. We’ve already moved into a dissident phase; people are detained just for standing in the street. So we were never in this classic electoral process to begin with.

The only thing to do is work harder - including remaining active on the foreign front. We must push for more personal, targeted sanctions. Domestically, we need to work on igniting protests, maintaining the Rustaveli hotspot, and creating even larger hotspots," Irakli Pavlenishvili stated.