“The ban on political parties aims to arbitrarily prohibit political activities for political parties and an undefined group of individuals, exclude them from political processes, criminalize their political opinions and activities, and thereby suppress political processes and dissenting opinions in the country. We believe that any legal proceedings initiated in the Constitutional Court based on these laws will be unconstitutional, rights-restricting, and inconsistent with international democratic standards,” several non-governmental organizations stated in a joint statement.
According to representatives of the NGOs, the amendments proposed by “Georgian Dream” are inconsistent with the Constitution of Georgia.
“We are responding to the legislative package adopted on October 16, 2025, by the one-party parliament of ‘Georgian Dream,’ which provides for the banning of political parties and the indefinite deprivation of political rights for individuals associated with them. We believe that these amendments are inconsistent with the Constitution of Georgia and aim to exclude ‘Georgian Dream’s’ political competitors from political activities.
According to statements by ‘Georgian Dream’ leaders, they intend to request the Constitutional Court to declare up to 10 political parties unconstitutional in their lawsuit. They also state that, alongside the lawsuit to ban parties, they are preparing a list of individuals to be declared ‘associated with banned parties’ and plan to exclude them from public political life.
Under the amendments, any person declared ‘associated with a banned party’ is prohibited from founding a political party, leading a party, being a party member, participating as a candidate in parliamentary or local elections, holding public office, or making political donations.
The amendments also stipulate that declaring a political party unconstitutional automatically terminates the mandate of any parliament or council member elected through that party and cancels the party’s electoral list.
The legislative changes regarding the banning of political parties are extremely alarming for the following reasons:
The law does not specify any criteria or circumstances based on which a citizen may be declared ‘associated with a banned party’ and have their political rights revoked.
According to ‘Georgian Dream,’ an associated person can be anyone, regardless of whether there is or was any political-legal connection between that person and the party. The absence of such criteria creates fertile ground for ‘Georgian Dream’ to arbitrarily prohibit political activities for any undesirable opponent.
‘Georgian Dream’ permanently bans political parties and individuals ‘associated’ with them from political activities.
The legislative package does not specify any timeframe after which the imposed ban would be lifted or any conditions under which a person could restore their constitutional rights. Consequently, the legislative package contradicts international human rights principles and the international standard of legal clarity and foreseeability. The proposed legislative changes are inconsistent with the Constitution, as they expand the mandate of the Constitutional Court without amending the Constitution.
As is known, Article 60 of the Constitution of Georgia exhaustively defines the competence of the Constitutional Court, and the deprivation of political activities and rights for individuals is not within its constitutional jurisdiction.
Former members of a banned party are not granted the right to engage in political activities, form a party, or join another party. The law does not specify how many former members of a banned party in another party or party list would be sufficient to ban that party as well, or whether even a single such person in a party or list would suffice.
‘Georgian Dream’ has given the Constitutional Court only 14 days to decide on banning a party that essentially replicates the goals, activities, or personnel of a banned party. No reasonable, impartial, or objective observer can expect a fair and reasoned decision in such a short timeframe.
Voters of banned parties will be left without a choice. If the Constitutional Court grants ‘Georgian Dream’s’ constitutional lawsuit based on these unconstitutional amendments, hundreds of thousands of voters will be left without a real choice, rendering any future elections meaningless.
The legislative package was adopted in an accelerated manner – within three days of registration at the Bureau, through three readings. The expedited consideration of such a highly rights-restricting legislative package contradicts international standards of the rule of law.
The amendments introduced to the legislative acts restrict constitutionally guaranteed political rights, threaten the principle of a democratic societal order declared by the Constitution of Georgia, contradict and undermine the democratic governance, political pluralism, equality, and prohibition of discrimination established by Article 3 of the Constitution of Georgia.
The model created by these amendments allows the ruling party, ‘Georgian Dream,’ to ban undesirable opposition parties and legally neutralize any person declared ‘associated’ with them.
Thus, these amendments aim to arbitrarily prohibit political activities for political parties and an undefined group of individuals, exclude them from political processes, criminalize their political opinions and activities, and thereby suppress political processes and dissenting opinions in the country.
Accordingly, we believe that any legal proceedings initiated in the Constitutional Court based on these laws will be unconstitutional, rights-restricting, and inconsistent with international democratic standards,” the NGOs state.
NGOs: The ban on political parties aims to arbitrarily prohibit political activities for parties and an undefined group of individuals, suppress political processes, and silence dissenting opinions in the country
