Georgian Parliament Speaker: political party that propagates war, loses territory, fuels discord unconstitutional and has no place in democratic space

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday said the constitutional lawsuit, seeking the ban of specific political entities, was not just a pledge, but a mandate that the ruling Georgian Dream party received during last year’s parliamentary elections from 1,120,000 Georgian citizens.

In his interview with Rustavi 2 TV channel, Papuashvili noted that “a political party that propagates war, loses territory, fuels discord, and so on is unconstitutional and has no place in the democratic space”.

“What is the goal? We see that there are forces undermining Georgian democracy. For any democracy to develop, it must be capable of defending itself. This is the concept of a defense-capable democracy. One should not give enemies of democracy the opportunity to undermine it through various mechanisms, including the use of party instruments”, the Speaker said.

“A political party that propagates war, loses territory, fuels discord, and so on is unconstitutional and has no place in the democratic space. I mean anyone who meets these criteria. Our starting point is not the party’s name, but its actions. If a party is unconstitutional in its activities, we will appeal to the Constitutional Court in this regard. Our lawsuit is based on concrete investigative materials compiled by the parliamentary investigative commission after months of work, presented in a report. The crimes committed by various political groups against the Constitution are documented in over 450 pages”, he concluded.