Georgia Georgian leadership wants to ban opposition party
The increasingly authoritarian leadership in Georgia is threatening to ban the main opposition party after the parliamentary elections in October. "Declaring the United National Movement unconstitutional is fundamentally important in order to create a healthy democratic system in Georgia once and for all," said Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze in Tbilisi. According to media reports, this would require the ruling Georgian Dream party to achieve a constitutional majority in the elections on October 26.
23.08.2024, 18:05
SDA
The United National Movement is the party of former President Mikhail Saakashvili, who has been imprisoned by the current leadership of the South Caucasus republic. Polls put Georgian Dream at around 60 percent. In the 2020 parliamentary elections, the party fell just short of a two-thirds majority.
Against fierce protests, the party recently pushed through a Russian-style law aimed at curbing alleged foreign influence on civil society. The EU had only made the former Soviet republic of Georgia a candidate country at the end of 2023, but has put the process on hold because of this law.
