OMM Newsroom
Georgia’s Constitutional Court has begun hearing a case seeking to ban five opposition parties, following a lawsuit filed by the ruling Georgian Dream party. Hearings in Batumi are expected to continue at least through Friday, AnewZ reported.
Eight-eight lawmakers from Georgian Dream petitioned the court to declare the United National Movement (UNM), the Coalition for Change, Strong Georgia (Lelo), the Federalist Party and Gakharia – For Georgia unconstitutional and revoke their registration.
The lawsuit initially targeted three parties before being expanded to five. The ruling party alleges that they share the aim of undermining Georgia’s constitutional order.
Georgian Dream accuses the opposition parties of refusing to recognise elected governments since 2016. The lawsuit also cites the UNM’s period in power from 2004 to 2012, alleged abuses in prisons and the 2008 war with Russia. It also refers to a new opposition alliance formed in March.
The parties have significant electoral support. Four of them won a combined total of about 785,000 votes, or 37.79% of the vote, in the 2024 parliamentary elections.
Objections and political disputes in court
The first hearing was marked by heated exchanges. The UNM asked for all seven judges on the court to be removed from the case. The party said the court’s current composition could not ensure a fair and impartial hearing and argued that the case was political rather than legal. Other parties filed similar motions, but all were rejected.
When the discussion turned political, Constitutional Court Chairman Revaz Nadaraia intervened, saying the proceedings should focus on legal arguments rather than political statements. He said political statements had “no value” in court.
Levan Tsutskiridze, an opposition representative from the Freedom Square organisation, was removed from the courtroom after directly addressing the judges. The court also rejected a request to call imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili as a witness, saying the opposition had not explained what facts his testimony would establish.
As hearings continued, Freedom Square held a protest outside the courthouse. The demonstration was small and peaceful, with no signs of escalating tensions.
The low turnout drew criticism from the government. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze had predicted in advance that only “20 or 30 people” would attend. He described the turnout as evidence of declining public support for the opposition parties and portrayed them as a “network of foreign agents.”
Opposition leaders rejected the criticism, saying they were fighting for their political existence. They said the number of people at the protest did not reflect the seriousness of the case.
Positions of the government and European institutions
Kobakhidze defended the lawsuit, describing the opposition parties as “unconstitutional in essence.” He said banning them would help create a “healthy political spectrum” in Georgia. He also accused opposition leaders of trying to evade constitutional justice.
The prime minister made the remarks a day after opposition representatives met the ambassadors of the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Kobakhidze criticised the meeting, saying opposition leaders preferred to present their positions to foreign diplomats rather than defend them in court.
At the diplomatic meeting, opposition representatives said they believed threats to democracy in Georgia were growing. They described the lawsuit as politically motivated and alleged that it had been initiated by Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of Georgian Dream.
Zurab Japaridze of the Coalition for Change also criticised the European Union for what he called an unclear and inconsistent response to developments in Georgia. He said Western governments could impose sanctions but stressed that the EU still lacked a clear policy toward the country. Banning the opposition parties, Japaridze said, would move Georgia further from the democratic world and deepen its international isolation.
The lawsuit has also drawn criticism from European institutions. On October 8, the European Parliament adopted a resolution addressing attempts to ban opposition parties in Georgia.
Alain Berset, secretary-general of the Council of Europe, said that under the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, compelling grounds are required to dissolve a political party. The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission has also criticised legislative amendments adopted in 2025 that expanded the Constitutional Court’s powers to ban political parties.
The Georgian government has rejected the criticism, calling it interference in the country’s judicial proceedings.
Hearings are scheduled to continue on Thursday and Friday, but a final ruling could take several months. The Constitutional Court must announce its decision by June 24, 2027.
If the judges approve the proposed ban, it would mark the largest exclusion of opposition parties from political activity in Georgia’s modern history and could significantly affect the country’s political landscape.
