“Clan warfare is taking place within Georgian Dream. It is a fight for survival that cannot be contained, and ultimately, all of this creates fertile ground for dismantling the regime, because this cannot be a source of strength for it,” Irakli Pavlenishvili, chair of the National Movement’s governing council, said on PalitraNews’ programme 360 Degrees.

Pavlenishvili also commented on the ruling majority meeting scheduled for October 17, which Georgian Dream Honorary Chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili is expected to attend. According to Pavlenishvili, the meeting will be another attempt to demonstrate that members of the ruling party remain part of a single political entity.

“I will not try to predict what decision Bidzina Ivanishvili might make at the majority meeting. In my opinion, even Kobakhidze and other senior officials within Georgian Dream may not know what their ‘master’ intends to do with them. Given this very serious internal crisis, the most logical move would probably be for Ivanishvili to demonstrate that ‘we are still one political entity.’ What a miserable political entity it must be if its members disown one another every other day, before the rooster even crows.

“I will not engage in political fortune-telling, but I expect more dirt to come to the surface, more people to be arrested, and more confrontations to emerge. We have seen how Mr Rijvadze was left in a situation where his life was endangered. We have also seen people effectively condemned to many years in prison. This is deliberate because they are corrupt and commit crimes — and they know it. That is precisely why they hold senior positions. Ivanishvili has very simple selection criteria: if a person is not compromised by some form of corruption or criminal activity, Ivanishvili has no leverage over them. Consequently, he has no need for them and will not appoint them to a senior position.

“All of this has surfaced now because they are experiencing a profound internal crisis and cannot even bring the streets under control. Everyone can see that people associated with corruption or criminal activity have been caught up in the personnel purges.

“Georgian Dream has always had oligarchic and criminal tendencies throughout its time in power. At this stage, however, it can no longer maintain control over any of its key areas, which is why it is facing a deep crisis,” Pavlenishvili said.

The opposition politician also discussed the proposed ban on political parties, arguing that the process amounted not merely to banning political parties but to banning the Georgian state itself.

“Bidzina Ivanishvili is now facing an extremely difficult choice. He is caught between two fires. On the one hand, Russia is demanding that he finally carry out all its instructions. He has had 14 years to do so, and his task is to eliminate every national movement, something he has not yet managed to accomplish. When they spoke about finishing off the ‘Nats,’ they primarily meant the United National Movement, along with other opposition forces. The intention was to destroy every patriotic and anti-occupation political force and eliminate independent media. Ivanishvili was supposed to create the same kind of authoritarian paradise that Putin and Lukashenko have established.

“These demands are evident. Ivanishvili is under pressure from Russia to implement all its principal instructions. The conclusion of the Tsulukiani Commission is not merely about banning political parties; it amounts to banning the Georgian state. According to that conclusion, Georgia had a criminal regime that started the August war. This is how territorial integrity is undermined. You can look at historical precedents: if a country is deemed to have a criminal regime that starts a war and initiates hostilities in violation of international law, this creates a favourable legal environment under international law for the territorial fragmentation of that country.

“Manana Kobakhidze, one of the founders of Georgian Dream, understood that this was not merely reputational damage. Rather, the issue is a wager on the Ivanishvili family ruling for generations. Signing up to something directed against Georgian statehood will remain a permanent stain,” Irakli Pavlenishvili said.