PM: Georgian parliament may become one-party institution

A legal proceeding will be initiated to ban the former ruling party United National Movement and the question of annulment of its parliament mandates will automatically arise if the ruling party Georgian Dream wins a constitutional majority in the parliamentary elections of October 2024, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said, Report informs via Interfax.

"A decision to annul parliament mandates the United National Movement gains in the elections has to be made by the Georgian Constitutional Court. It is quite logical that party members cannot be in parliament if the party is banned," Kobakhidze said.

As to whether the one-party parliament would be democratic, he gave the example of Moldova, where the parliament is a de-facto one-party institution yet Western states have not accused Moldova of violating democracy.

"The parliament will remain democratic, as the ruling party will be elected by constitutional majority, and this is crucial. The Moldovan parliament is practically one-party today, but no one talks about that, and it is nothing but welcome. The same will happen in Georgia. The ban on the United National Movement is a very important condition of Georgia's uninterrupted progress towards the EU," Kobakhidze said.

Georgian Dream said earlier that, after it wins the October elections by constitutional majority, it would initiate a legal proceeding to ban the United National Movement, whose founder Mikheil Saakashvili is currently incarcerated.