Salome Samadashvili: You may ban political parties, but you cannot ban the Georgian people; the Enlargement Report will once again show that, due to the actions of Ivanishvili’s government, Georgia is losing a historic opportunity

“You may ban political parties, but you cannot ban the Georgian people,” Salome Samadashvili, one of the leaders of Lelo - Strong Georgia, said, commenting on the ongoing proceedings at the Constitutional Court concerning the lawsuit seeking to ban opposition parties.

According to her, Georgian society has come to understand that the only force attempting to carry out a constitutional coup in the country is the ruling Georgian Dream party.

“The Constitutional Court proceedings have made two things very clear to Georgian society. First, the only political force that is actually violating the Constitution of Georgia and attempting to stage a constitutional coup in the country through the Constitutional Court is the ruling party. Second, I believe society has clearly seen the difference between the opposition and the government in terms of professional, moral and overall political competence.

I believe that Bidzina Ivanishvili made a major mistake by initiating this process, because regardless of the court's decision, it will be extremely damaging to the ruling regime. You may ban political parties, but you cannot ban the Georgian people. And following this hearing, the Georgian people have probably become even more convinced that political change in the country is both necessary and inevitable,” Salome Samadashvili said.

Regarding her expectations for the EU Enlargement Report, Samadashvili stated that “the report will be even more critical of Georgia's current government.”

“I expect the Enlargement Report to be even more critical of Georgia's current government, because over the past year we have seen regression in every area. This will be particularly painful given that the same report will highlight even more clearly the progress made by successful countries that are faithfully fulfilling their obligations as EU candidate countries.

In other words, action plans tailored specifically to those countries will likely be introduced to accelerate their integration into the European Union, and we will once again see that, due to Ivanishvili's government, Georgia is losing a historic opportunity,” Salome Samadashvili said.