The Parliament unanimously supported, with 80 votes, a legislative package in its first reading, which will prohibit specific individuals from engaging in party activities, holding political office, and participating in elections.
The “Georgian Dream” bill passed the plenary session under an expedited procedure. Prior to this, the legislative package was reviewed by the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee.
According to the legislative amendments, if the Constitutional Court decides to ban a specific political party, its members and associated individuals will lose their passive electoral rights, meaning they will no longer be able to be elected to Parliament or municipal bodies. Additionally, they will be restricted from holding leadership positions in constitutional bodies, will be unable to become members of other political parties, and will be prohibited from acting as donors to other parties.
Furthermore, any party that includes such individuals in its ranks will face penalties under the Criminal Code, including fines.
As stated by Archil Gorduladze, Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee, after the implementation of these legislative changes, the “Georgian Dream” team will appeal to the Constitutional Court to request both the banning of specific parties and the restriction of the aforementioned rights for individuals associated with them.
According to Gorduladze, “this will put an end to the involvement of agents in politics.”
Gorduladze claims that the “Georgian Dream” legislative package is fully compliant with both the Georgian Constitution and the practices of the Strasbourg International Court. He further noted that in several European countries, multiple parties have been banned, and numerous individuals have had their political activities restricted.
“We see that from 2003 to the present day, certain parties, which are essentially one party operating under different names, symbols, and colors, meet all the grounds for banning a party as stipulated in the Constitution. Even setting everything else aside, the events of October 4 alone are sufficient to justify banning specific parties. The harmful actions committed by the ‘Collective National Movement’ against Georgia, in terms of fighting against the country, are reflected both in the conclusions of the investigative commission and are well-known to the public. Therefore, for the tenth time, Georgian society and the Georgian people are rejecting the return of the ‘National Agents’ to power,” Gorduladze stated.
Under the “Georgian Dream” initiative, amendments are being made to the Organic Law “On the Constitutional Court of Georgia,” the Organic Law “On Political Associations of Citizens,” the “Election Code,” and the “Criminal Code.”
The planned amendments to these laws will be adopted in the second and third readings within the current week.
Parliament supports legislative package in first reading, banning specific individuals from party activities, holding political office, and participating in elections
