Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Thursday claimed the domestic opposition “used up all ammunition they had in the arsenal four years ago” and their “sabotage has no effect at all” in comments over their refusal to accept last month’s parliamentary elections.
In his interview with the Georgian Public Broadcaster, Kobakhidze referenced the ruling Georgian Dream party’s consent to the EU-mediated April agreement in 2021 which he claimed had “three main goals”.
He alleged the first objective was to “restore the opposition's influence over the judiciary, which was reflected in the agreement”, the second was to “ensure the opposition's control over the Central Election Commission” and, to that effect, “specific mechanisms were embedded in that regard”, and the third was the holding of snap elections.
“Back then, we had to agree to a 43 percent [electoral] threshold, which was complete nonsense, complete absurdity. The issue of holding snap parliamentary elections was linked to [2021] municipal elections, and we had to agree to that as well. These three issues meant the country moving beyond the constitutional framework. At that time, the opposition was stronger because the context was appropriate. Today, they have absolutely no resources”, the PM noted.
In his remarks over the opposition groups’ decision to boycott the electoral results, the Head of the Government argued “no democratic system would function if any Government required legitimacy from the opposition”, stressing the Parliament required “public legitimacy” and from the opposition.
“Parliament has already received legitimacy, when 1,120,000 people turned out and supported the ruling team. When a total of 2,100,000 people [voted for] various political parties, this already established the legitimacy of the parliament. Therefore, everything is very simple. Whether they come in or not is up to them. The legitimacy of the parliament is already present”, the Prime Minister said.
“I believe that eventually, everyone will enter the Parliament. This is my prediction, but overall, these political parties have no resources, and primarily, they will bring no benefit to the Parliament. They [opposition] are so destructive and radical in essence that their participation in parliamentary life will only be counterproductive”, Kobakhidze emphasised.
Further addressing the opposition activities in the last Parliament, the PM claimed they “brought nothing positive to parliamentary life” as “it was “destruction and radicalism in totality” adding “it can be confidently stated that whether or not they enter the parliament, nothing essential will change”.
