PM Kobakhidze: opposition alliance may prompt amendment to constitutional court complaint

The prime minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, has said a newly announced opposition alliance could lead the government to amend a complaint it had already submitted to the Constitutional Court of Georgia.

Responding to a journalist’s question about cooperation among opposition parties, Kobakhidze said the alliance largely consisted of political groups that had emerged from or were linked to the United National Movement.

“You know that practically all these parties originate from the United National Movement. Because of that, what we are seeing is simply a reshuffling of the same elements,” he said.

Kobakhidze added that the government might need to adjust the list of parties mentioned in its constitutional complaint in light of the new political configuration.

“It is possible that the list in the constitutional claim will be expanded and that all relevant parties will be included. We will work on this and make the appropriate decision,” he said.

The prime minister argued that the newly formed alliance essentially repeated the same political forces that were already named in the legal complaint. He also said the party Freedom Square had emerged from within the political environment of the United National Movement.

Kobakhidze further claimed that the leaders of the parties had been connected either directly to the United National Movement or to what he described as the radical opposition both before and after 2012.

Among those he mentioned was Levan Tsutskiridze, whom he accused of involvement in election irregularities in 2008, an allegation he said undermined the credibility of his political statements.