The Constitutional Court of Georgia has begun considering a case to ban five of the country's leading opposition parties. The lawsuit was filed by 88 deputies from the ruling Georgian Dream party, and the sessions are being held in Batumi by a plenum of seven judges. There is no decision on the case yet.
The trial began on October 21 and is scheduled to continue on October 22 and 23. The lawsuit requests that the activities of the five formations be declared unconstitutional, the parties be banned, and their registrations be deleted. This was reported by the Associated Press, Civil.ge and “Interpressnews“.
Which parties are on the list
The case concerns the “United National Movement“, “Coalition for Change“, “Strong Georgia – Lelo“, the Federalist Party and the “For Georgia“ party, led by former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia.
According to the petitioners, the five political forces have practically continuously denied the legitimacy of the Georgian government and the ruling party in both domestic and foreign policy since 2016. The lawsuit also claims that the groups are united by a common goal and have taken actions to overthrow or forcibly change the constitutional order.
The charges have been rejected by the opposition. Party leaders say that the ruling “Georgian Dream“ is using the court to remove its main competitors before the 2028 parliamentary elections. “This is not just a ban on political parties. This is the end of democracy for Georgia“, said the deputy chairman of the “United National Movement“ Irakli Pavlenishvili, quoted by the Associated Press.
Court rejects key opposition demands
On the first day of the hearings, the court rejected the demands of “United National Movement“ and “Strong Georgia“ for the removal of judges. The request of the party “For Georgia“ to consider the case against it separately was also not accepted.
The court also refused to call as witnesses the founder of “Georgian Dream“ Bidzina Ivanishvili and former president Mikheil Saakashvili. Judge Eva Gotsiridze pointed out that the subject of the case is the activities of political parties as a whole, and not the individual responsibility of individuals.
Representatives of four of the five affected formations appeared before the court - “United National Movement“, “Coalition for Change“, “Strong Georgia“ and “For Georgia“. The Federalist Party refused to participate in order not to lend legitimacy to the procedure.
Decision expected within nine months
According to Civil.ge, the Constitutional Court has a maximum of nine months to rule on a case on the constitutionality of a political party. After several extensions of the claim, including the addition of the Federalist Party and “For Georgia“, the deadline for a decision is June 2027.
If the court upholds the claim, the five parties will be removed from the country's political life. For now, the procedure is ongoing, with the next hearings scheduled for October 22 and 23.
Sources: apnews.com, civil.ge, interpressnews.ge