According to Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, the constitutional lawsuit regarding the banning of political parties is already prepared. It will be discussed at the majority’s meeting today and will be ready for submission to the Constitutional Court tomorrow.
“Regarding the lawsuit, it is ready and undergoing legal refinement. We will have a majority meeting today, where this lawsuit will be discussed, and we believe that afterward, it will be ready for submission tomorrow,” Papuashvili stated.
The Parliament Speaker also responded to questions about the constitutionality of party bans, noting that this issue is addressed in the Constitution and is a common practice in all countries.
“This has always been in our Constitution and legislation, and it exists in any country. Secondly, archives are a good thing—look into the archives and see the constitutional lawsuit prepared by Nino Lomjaria when she sought to have a specific party declared unconstitutional. Back then, she even sent the lawsuit to opposition members in parliament since she herself could not be a plaintiff, so that they could file it. So, NGOs themselves had prepared a lawsuit and were working with parties at the time to have it filed. Therefore, of course, this is hypocrisy, lies, and another attempt to deceive the Georgian people when these groups, hired from abroad, try to provide absurd legal interpretations. We are observing this because we often see the positions of specific donors and ambassadors behind it, which makes it interesting.
I advise ‘Lelo’ to consult Nino Lomjaria if they are interested in whether party bans are constitutional or unconstitutional, and she will provide them with consultation,” Papuashvili stated.
According to him, the logic of the constitutional lawsuit is to promote the principle of a defensive democracy, which implies that democracy must protect itself from its enemies.
“The logic of the lawsuit is as follows: we see that there are parties being used to harm Georgia, to organize the undemocratic change of government. We see war propaganda, attempts to violate our country’s territorial integrity, and other issues that are outlined in the Constitution as grounds for banning a party and declaring it unconstitutional. Therefore, our main target is those political parties that are the primary driving force behind anti-Georgian and anti-constitutional actions. These are parties that have the real potential to destabilize the situation in Georgia, organize anti-constitutional actions, and attempt to overthrow the government, as we have seen several times over the past 13 years since the ‘National Movement’ lost power. This is our main criterion. With the latest legislative changes, we have created Western-style legislation based on the principle of a defensive democracy, which means that democracy must protect itself from enemies who try to use democratic instruments against democracy itself—that is, using a party as a democratic instrument to undermine and overthrow democracy. This is a common practice in any country. Recently, several parties were banned in Moldova, previously in Ukraine, and in Germany, bans are also possible, including bans on organizations,” Papuashvili stated.
Shalva Papuashvili: The constitutional lawsuit will be ready tomorrow – I advise Lelo to consult Nino Lomjaria if they are interested in the constitutionality of party bans – archives are a good thing, look at the lawsuit prepared by Lomjaria
