Constitutional Court Schedules Hearings on Party Ban Case for October 21-23

Irakli Kupradze, one of the leaders of "Lelo for Strong Georgia", writes that hearings in the Constitutional Court on the case to ban political parties have been scheduled. Later, Berdia Sichinava, another leader of "Gakharia for Georgia", also spread the same information.

According to Kupradze: "They called me from the Constitutional Court, the party ban hearings have been scheduled in an accelerated manner: October 21; October 22; October 23. Persistence is what this is called!"

Sichinava writes that they have not submitted a lawsuit, and therefore have not sent their position in writing either.

On October 13 it became known that the plenum of the Constitutional Court accepted for consideration the constitutional lawsuit of Georgian Dream seeking the ban of opposition political parties. According to legislation, the court has 9 months to make a decision.

In the lawsuit, Georgian Dream seeks the ban of almost all major opposition parties. Among them are "Unity – National Movement", "Coalition for Change" (Gvaramia, Melia, Girchi, It's Time), "Strong Georgia – Lelo, for the People, for Freedom!", "Federalist Party" and "Gakharia for Georgia".

In the lawsuit, "Dream" argues that the parties subject to ban share common goals and "express consent to carry out, with a unified aim and common intent, unconstitutional actions, including discrediting elections held in accordance with the Constitution of Georgia and electoral legislation, and the purposeful denial of the will of the people and democracy".

On the same day, Judge Manana Kobakhidze left the Constitutional Court. According to the court, this happened "on the basis of a personal statement". Kobakhidze's authority was to expire in 4 months, in February 2027. On October 12 she requested recusal from the party ban case, but was refused.