The withdrawal of the lawsuit and the submission of an updated, expanded claim to the Constitutional Court was done for a very simple reason - to restart the time frame and avoid Georgian Dream having to make a decision on banning parties in September, said Berdia Sichinava, Executive Secretary of the party “For Georgia,” on PalitraNews’ program “360 Degrees.”

According to Sichinava, the announcement about banning the “United National Movement” is nothing more than a political game aimed at appealing to its own voters.

“I was absolutely certain that Georgian Dream would submit an updated constitutional claim to stop and restart the time limit. This was easy to predict, since no actual ban of specific parties is planned at this stage, and the announcement about banning the ‘National Movement’ is nothing more than a political game - feeding its hawkish electorate, creating the impression that it is fighting the United National Movement. Georgian Dream is playing the role of having such strong autocratic power that it can finally fulfill its main promise - the political destruction of the National Movement - and throw this ‘food’ to a segment of its voters who demand it,” Sichinava said.

He also responded to a statement by the leader of “Girchi – More Freedom,” Zurab Japaridze, who commented on Georgian Dream’s withdrawal of the previous constitutional claim and submission of a new one, saying: “The regime’s problem is the alliance’s positions; no one believes that the alliance is currently ‘breaking tiles’.”

According to Sichinava, the argument that Georgian Dream included certain parties in the constitutional claim out of fear of the alliance is “not even remotely convincing.”

“After October 4, if anyone has ‘broken tiles,’ it is this part of the opposition [the Opposition Alliance]. That is the objective reality, and you cannot assess your own capabilities differently. After October 4, the opposition was damaged, and this segment harmed everyone with a fake revolution and confrontation with the idea of elections - they damaged our party as well and destroyed their own parties. They wiped out their regional party structures.

When the time for elections comes, we will see who participates and who does not. Do you really believe that this part of the opposition will not take part in the 2028 elections? Not participating again would be a catastrophic mistake. I am absolutely sure that the majority of this alliance will take part in the elections, and it will be the right decision,” Sichinava stated.

For reference, Georgian Dream plans to submit a new constitutional lawsuit to the Constitutional Court regarding the banning of parties, while withdrawing the previous claim. Based on the new lawsuit, the number of parties targeted for a ban will increase, with the party “Federalists” being added to the list.