The fifth president of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, does not rule out that the unification of the opposition failed due to interference by “Georgian Dream.” She stated this during a Facebook Live broadcast while answering questions from citizens. According to Zourabichvili, the previous attempt to unite opposition forces likely failed due to “regime interference,” as well as the fact that many leaders of these opposition parties are currently imprisoned.
“The struggle for the elections has a completely different meaning. These are not elections where one party or another is trying to gather as many supporters as possible. Here, complete unity of society is required. I am not talking about the previous unification of political parties, which, as we can see, did not happen — likely due to regime interference, and also because a significant portion of the leaders of these parties are in prison today, and their sentences could become even harsher.
Therefore, society must take responsibility and shape its own future. This future must be won back from the current regime. We cannot simply surrender the country and silently watch what is happening…
When society realizes its own strength and its struggle, political parties will also understand that they must follow society. This is that exceptional case where politicians must fulfill the public demand. Society is the locomotive, society is the driving force, and it is society that will save itself…
Parties must regain the trust of society. To do this, they need to put the country’s interests above their own party interests at least once. The country has only one interest — its salvation — whereas party interests are different for everyone. Now is not the time for rivalry between parties,” said the fifth president.