Georgia court begins case to ban five opposition parties; first motions rejected

 Conceptual illustration; it does not depict the actual courthouse or hearing. Georgia’s Constitutional Court opened hearings in Batumi on October 21 on a lawsuit seeking to outlaw five opposition parties. The case, filed by 88 MPs from the ruling Georgian Dream party, names the United National Movement, Coalition for Change, Strong Georgia–Lelo, the Federalists and Gakharia for Georgia. The court has scheduled hearings through October 23. [Georgia’s Public Broadcaster, citing the court](https://1tv.ge/lang/en/news/constitutional-court-opens-hearings-on-lawsuit-to-ban-five-opposition-parties/) and [AP](https://apnews.com/article/georgia-opposition-crackdown-dissent-georgian-dream-adf95f567c9025a8b3e657474d97960d) report the case details. On the first day, the court rejected requests by opposition parties to remove judges from the panel and to hear one party’s case separately, according to [Civil Georgia](https://civil.ge/archives/755399). The ruling party alleges the groups seek to overthrow the constitutional order; the parties reject that claim and say the lawsuit is designed to eliminate political rivals before the 2028 election. Those are competing claims, not findings by the court. The case could reshape political representation: four of the five parties together won about 38% of the vote in the 2024 parliamentary election. Three later gave up their seats, saying the election was rigged; Gakharia for Georgia remains in parliament with 11 of 150 seats, AP reports. [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/business/georgian-court-begins-hearing-lawsuit-seeking-ban-major-opposition-parties-2026-10-21/) says the court must issue a final, non-appealable decision by June 2027. The hearings are still under way, so no ban has been ordered.