Giorgi Sharashidze: Archil Gorduladze twists the facts to suit his own purposes; this is his well-known tactic. If anyone is violating the Constitution today, it is first and foremost Georgian Dream itself

Archil Gorduladze twists the facts to suit his own purposes; this is his well-known tactic. He accuses us of violating the Constitution by participating in elections, while his own side has filed such an unconstitutional lawsuit. And yet, he is the one making accusations! If anyone is violating the Constitution today, it is, of course, first and foremost Georgian Dream itself, Giorgi Sharashidze, a member of parliament from the For Georgia party, told journalists.

According to Sharashidze, his political team will prove to all of Georgia and the international community that the lawsuit seeking to ban political parties is unconstitutional.

Sharashidze said there is an expectation that the Constitutional Court will issue a decision that is entirely unconstitutional.

"Of course, during the question-and-answer stage as well, our team will prove to all of Georgia and the international community that this lawsuit is, first and foremost, unconstitutional, and that our party, our political force, has been artificially included on this list on the basis of absurd accusations. This, of course, demonstrates the absurdity of the lawsuit as a whole.

"Unfortunately, we have no expectation that the Constitutional Court will deliver a fair ruling. The eight-day hearing has once again confirmed this expectation. It has also confirmed what we have been saying all along: the decision to ban political parties was made within Georgian Dream.

"Unfortunately, we expect the Constitutional Court to issue a completely unconstitutional ruling.

"The purpose of this lawsuit is not only to ban political parties, but also to eliminate dissent in this country in general and declare any differing opinion unconstitutional. Unfortunately, this means that the authoritarian system Georgian Dream has been building is now entering a new phase, which will effectively amount to a dictatorship – albeit a disguised one.

"This poses an even greater threat to our country. Georgian Dream will attempt to use artificial, puppet opposition parties to create the impression that there is a certain degree of democracy in the country and that elections are being held. In reality, Georgian Dream wants something else. Having fully consolidated its power, it now wants to exercise complete control over the opposition as well – to put it bluntly, to appoint the opposition itself and determine how many seats specific opposition parties will receive in Parliament.

"This will have catastrophic and extremely serious consequences, first and foremost for Georgian Dream itself, including the 88 MPs who signed this lawsuit. It is only a matter of time, and that time is not far off, before Georgian Dream itself is held accountable for all of this," Sharashidze said.

For reference, the Constitutional Court will resume hearings tomorrow on the lawsuit seeking to ban opposition political parties.