The government of the former Soviet republic is seeking to outlaw its rivals over the 2008 war with Russia
Georgia’s ruling party Georgian Dream has called on its supporters to help it gain a constitutional majority in the upcoming October parliamentary elections and has vowed to outlaw the main opposition party, the United National Movement, if this goal is achieved.
One of the main reasons it is seeking to legally ban the party is its responsibility for the war with Russia in August 2008 and its attempts to “open a second front” against Moscow in the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
In a statement on the party’s official Facebook page on Tuesday, Georgian Dream said it aims to ensure “long-term sustainable peace and security” in the country and outlined four key reasons why it needed to achieve a constitutional majority in order to do so.
These include “qualitatively improving the political system,” curbing the spread of LGBT propaganda and protecting family values, upholding the country’s territorial integrity, and safekeeping Georgia’s identity.
The party argues it will be impossible to improve the country’s political system without completely banning the National Movement, which was founded by former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Upon obtaining a constitutional majority, the party said it would initiate a legal process to label the opposition movement and all its satellites or successor parties as “unconstitutional.”
The National Movement has also been accused of continuing to act on the orders of “strong external patrons,” which Georgian Dream says have been responsible for coordinating campaigns against the country over the past two years.
“Based on the numerous crimes committed by the National Movement against the Georgian state and the Georgian people, we cannot allow it to continue to perform external tasks and cause permanent damage to the state,” Georgian Dream wrote, adding that the removal of the opposition from the political system must be shown as the decision of “the greatest, constitutional majority of the Georgian people.”
Last week, the ruling party also issued a statement directly blaming former President Saakashvili for being responsible for the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict and acting on instructions from external forces.
The five-day war erupted on the night of August 8, 2008, when US-backed Saakashvili sent troops into Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia, shelling a base used by Russian peacekeepers who had been in the republic since the 1990s.
Then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a “peace enforcement” operation in response, which led to the defeat of Tbilisi’s forces. On August 26, Moscow recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia.
