Opinion: "Any attempt to establish a dictatorship in Georgia would be a farce"
Georgian Dream and opposition
Commenting on the ruling party Georgian Dream’s intentions to restrict opposition activities, sociologist Iago Kachkachishvili says that any attempt to establish a dictatorship in Georgia would only be a caricature of a dictatorship.
According to a statement from the Georgian Dream political council, later echoed by the party’s founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, the ruling team needs a constitutional majority in Parliament to initiate a legal process that could declare the United National Movement (UNM, the main opposition party) and all its affiliated or successor parties unconstitutional.
Georgian prime minister Irakli Kobakhidze even provided a specific list, which, in addition to the UNM, includes four other parties.
Commentary
Sociologist Iago Kachkachishvili:
“Ivanishvili plans to ban opposition parties under the guise of the ‘United National Movement.’
Ivanashvili is labeling NGOs and critical media as enemies and [foreign] agents and wants to ban them (the current law has already come into effect).
Ivanashvili has declared Europe and the U.S. as hostages of some absurd international ‘Global War Party’ and enemies of Georgia’s sovereignty. The path to the West is effectively closed, and the ruling party is eager for a constitutional majority to remove the commitment to Euro-Atlantic aspirations from the country’s constitution.
Meanwhile:
a) Since 2016, Georgian Dream voters have not made up the majority of the population.
b) The majority of the population wants Georgia to join the EU and NATO.
c) NGOs and critical media are trusted by a significant portion of society.
It turns out that Ivanashvili wants to overturn the will of the majority. This is not just authoritarianism; it’s a scheme (at least a scheme for now) for a dictatorship.
But does Ivanashvili have the resources to implement this scheme?
If we start speculating about it now, we could go too far.
So I’ll say this: I am convinced that any attempt to establish a dictatorship in Georgia will only be a caricature of a dictatorship and, therefore, a futile attempt. And I believe that not only the opposition electorate but also a significant portion of Georgian Dream voters will not allow this.”
