Hearing on lawsuit seeking to ban political parties to resume at Constitutional Court today
The Constitutional Court of Georgia will resume hearings on the ruling team’s lawsuit seeking to ban opposition political parties today, October 22, at 12:00 p.m.
The Constitutional Court has rejected all motions submitted by representatives of the opposition parties.
According to Constitutional Court Chairman Revaz Nadaraia, the court is still at the stage of considering motions.
The case is being heard by the Plenum of the Constitutional Court, composed of seven judges.
The lawsuit submitted to the Constitutional Court has been signed by 88 members of parliament. Based on the claim, the court is to consider declaring the following five political associations unconstitutional: Unity – National Movement; Coalition for Change – Gvaramia, Melia, Girchi, Droa; Strong Georgia – Lelo, For the People, For Freedom!; the Federalist Party; and For Georgia.
According to the authors of the lawsuit, since 2016, the aforementioned political associations have continuously denied the domestic and foreign policy legitimacy of Georgia’s current government and the ruling political party. They argue that this means one of the two sides must necessarily be deemed unconstitutional.
The lawsuit also states that the activities of the aforementioned political parties are aimed at overthrowing or forcibly changing Georgia’s constitutional order, undermining the country’s independence and violating its territorial integrity. On these grounds, the plaintiffs argue that the parties should be declared unconstitutional and banned from political activity.
One of the arguments put forward for banning the parties is that the five political groups have demonstrated essentially identical positions over the years in elected bodies, in Georgia’s political processes and in the alleged unconstitutional activities described in the claim, including what the ruling team characterizes as sabotage against the Georgian state. According to the lawsuit, they have formed a coalition united by common objectives and continue to operate in this manner.
The constitutional claim is accompanied by the findings of a temporary investigative commission established in the 11th Parliament.
The substantive hearings in the case are scheduled for October 21, 22 and 23.
