Parliament Speaker: ruling party “only political force” combining “Europeanism and patriotism”

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said the ruling Georgian Dream party was the only domestic political force that “combines Europeanism and patriotism”. 

The current Government meets the two main criteria: Europeanism and patriotism. The Georgian public should see the mixture of these two important qualities, that is what it sees in Georgian Dream - that it is the only political force that combines patriotism and Europeanness”, Papuashvili said in an interview with Palitra News TV.

Papuashvili also commented on the statement of Nika Melia, the Chair of the opposition United National Movement party, who on Monday called for snap elections in order to “ease the existing political crisis” in the country, by saying the domestic opposition understood that if the elections were held today, the Georgian Dream party would win “convincingly”. 

Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said the talk of snap Parliamentary elections in the country - as demanded by a part of the domestic opposition - was “absurd”.

• Ruling party Secretary General: opposition’s talk of snap Parliamentary elections “absurd”

Kaladze suggested instead the domestic political tension was being “used” by the opposition, in particular the United National Movement party.