“If you arrest someone for standing on a sidewalk and detain politicians for making political statements, you cannot simultaneously open a space for public debate,” Irakli Pavlenishvili, member of the United National Movement, told journalists.

According to Pavlenishvili, the UNM has always been ready for public debates with the authorities, but the government consistently refused.

He also emphasized that former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s participation in debates would have changed a lot.

“That would have made a huge difference. Society deserves that the main opponent of the government is not artificially excluded from the process and is able to participate in any political activity. He has a large number of supporters, yet they were denied the opportunity for their leader to exercise political activity. Any political leader should have that right during different pre-election periods, except for Mikheil Saakashvili. Regarding debates in general, I have participated on channels like ‘Sazmau’ and ‘Rustavi 2.’ I physically could not appear on ‘Imedi’ because I wasn’t invited. Government members also did not appear on any opposition channels. Who silenced debates in this country is well known to everyone,” Pavlenishvili said.

He expressed skepticism that the government has any real interest in lowering prices or fighting corruption.

“We don’t trust Ivanishvili. The probability of reducing prices and defeating corruption is negligible in our view. This person was aware that prices were being raised through cartel agreements involving his associated businessmen. There may be superficial adjustments, but real systemic price reduction will not happen. Corruption cannot be defeated either, and we believe this because this power does not take that into account. It also does not consider public debate. If someone is arrested for standing on a sidewalk and politicians are detained for political statements, you cannot open public debate. Only if democratization occurs - if the authorities fulfill not just our demands but those of the wider Western world, release political prisoners, and create a fair electoral environment - will public debate naturally happen. We have always been ready for such public debate,” Pavlenishvili said.

For context, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has stated that for Georgians to make informed electoral choices, they must have the opportunity to hear all political groups seeking power. He added that informal oligarchic governance sought to suppress dissent, destroy spaces for debate, and limit platforms exposing opposing ideologies. This affected Georgia partially, though, unlike in other contexts, foreign influence only succeeded in disrupting the country’s long-standing culture of political, economic, and social debate.