“The distinguished representative of Ivanishvili’s ‘Animal Farm,’ Mr. Papuashvili, stated that nothing changes for us at all; the banning of parties was already decided by them. We have clearly stated that regardless of which party it concerns, if parties are banned in a country, it means that the political process itself is also banned, and the ‘Federalists’ do not intend to participate in any formal process,” said Tamar Chergoleishvili, leader of the “Federalists,” speaking to journalists.

According to her, the alliance members will continue a policy of non-recognition and will try to “undermine the regime” through protests, international sanctions, and offering a democratic alternative.

“Nothing changes for us. This was a public statement, so both Papuashvili and everyone else knew well that our participation in formal processes was not a threat to them until they were banning these three parties. This is a manifestation of the weakness of the authorities — or the regime — because they are facing a 9-month deadline on the lawsuit and must either ban the parties or come up with something new and extend the deadline. They don’t even have the strength to fully carry it out and actually ban the parties.

This regime will still be defeated through the streets, international sanctions, and a democratic alternative. We are now in the process of building that democratic alternative — to tell people what will happen after the regime’s defeat: justice will be restored, civil rights will be reinstated, all Russian laws will be annulled, including initiatives banning parties; the State Security Service will be dismantled and replaced with a structure that serves citizens’ interests, not the regime; and the country will return to its Euro-Atlantic path, which will once again bring justice, prosperity, and security.

Our goal is this. What the regime does or how it does it has no real significance, because the regime is getting weaker by the day, and we must undermine it through protests, sanctions, and an alternative so that Georgia returns to democratic Euro-Atlantic development and these Russian ‘puppets,’ along with their propaganda machines, are consigned to the past and recorded as a shame in Georgian history.

We have signed a political agreement between parties that involves continuing a policy of non-recognition of the government, because any government — authoritarian or democratic — needs recognition to function. We, as political parties and part of society, do not recognize this regime because it is a traitor to Georgia’s national interests and national heroes. It has abandoned the country’s historical path and mission, declared friends as enemies and enemies as allies. We now see a regime allied with Iran and Russia undermining Georgia, alienating it from the free, Western world, and condemning it to Russian poverty. We will not allow this.

Non-recognition is proving to be an effective tool, as even the regime itself confirms this when it shouts, ‘recognize us or we will arrest you.’ That shows how much they need recognition. They are in a very weak position, and we will once again constrain them through protests, sanctions, and an alternative until they are forced into concessions and eventually collapse, so that people can live in a democratic environment,” Chergoleishvili said.

She added that the alliance intends to use all available legal mechanisms, including courts.

“We intend to use every possible resource to weaken the regime, including the courts, if that can be a path to reaching international tribunals and further discrediting the Russian regime there as well, in order to dismantle it and free the country from Russia. We openly say that we are in the same struggle as our compatriots were on April 9, and as we were during the 1991 referendum. We are fighting to preserve independence from a regime that leaves the country in Russia’s swamp in exchange for maintaining power, not governing the country but looting it at the expense of the most vulnerable,” Chergoleishvili said.

For context, “Georgian Dream” plans to submit a new constitutional lawsuit to the Constitutional Court regarding the banning of political parties, while withdrawing its previous claim. Under the new lawsuit, the number of parties targeted for banning increases, with the “Federalists” party added to the list.