The Chairman of the Parliament is reporting to the legislature on activity for 2022. While delivering his speech, Shalva Papuashvili also spoke about the polarization.
“We are often told that polarization is one of the acutest challenges for Georgia and I may agree, though, let a country cast the first stone to us that can demonstrate lower polarization than Georgia. And the reality is that polarization has become a new norm of modern politics - a new form of political competition and against this background, it’s naturally appalling when in certain cases, this term is used to cover the attempts to stigmatize Georgia. In fact, it is not polarization that poses a problem to Georgian politics but radicalization – it is a real challenge we face today.
Political groups, not recognizing the elections and the legitimation of the democratic institutions, after all, fail to recognize democracy itself and it is best proved by the spare seats in this hall today, which is clearly evident for our guests and our society. And the only solution we envision is de-radicalization, which means the recognition of the democratic institutions by radical groups and rejection of the radical agenda.
It can be achieved through the only way - intact and unambiguous position towards the groups that deviate from the democratic framework as within, so beyond the country”, - said Shalva Papuashvili.