Constitutional Court Postpones Hearing on Ban of Five Opposition Parties
By Messenger Staff
Monday, November 9, 2026
The Constitutional Court has postponed the hearing of the petition by Georgian Dream MPs to ban five opposition parties, which was set to resume on November 9. The Court's press office stated that proceedings will resume on November 10. According to available information, the postponement is due to the health condition of one of the judges. Opposition representatives said the hearing has been rescheduled for 12:00 PM that day.
Giorgi Sioridze, one of the leaders of Strong Georgia-Lelo, said the Court informed the party that the hearing will not take place because of a judge's health. He said his party will use the next session to expose the unconstitutional intentions of Georgian Dream, and that it will present a detailed case against what he called the ruling party's "criminal objective," an agenda that seeks to establish a dictatorship in Georgia by eliminating the opposition.
According to Sioridze, the party intends to dismantle Georgian Dream's "absurd lawsuit," point by point and section by section, and expose its false accusations. He said the ruling party's goals are the establishment of a dictatorship, the complete elimination of political parties and the opposition, and the transformation of Russia's harmful policies into a constitutional obligation for Georgia. This, he said, will be the substantive accusation leveled against the ruling power.
Sioridze added that Strong Georgia-Lelo has extensive evidence showing it has never undermined Georgia's constitutional order. "On the contrary," he said, the party has always stood as a guardian of the Constitution, "unlike Georgian Dream." In effect, he added, the party's case will serve as an indictment of Georgian Dream itself.
Lasha Parulava, one of the leaders of the National Movement, said the "Bidzina Ivanishvili regime" has already decided to ban political parties, which he said is evident from the court hearings. According to him, the opposition will use the hearings to once again present its arguments, evidence and facts to the public, facts that will inevitably be brought before the European Court, where the final decision will be made.
Parulava said the Constitutional Court has already decided to ban opposition parties, arguing that the opposition's primary goal now is to prove it stands on the right side of history. Calling Georgian Dream a "shameful page in history," he pointed to the ruling party's constitutional lawsuit, which he said effectively dismantles democracy in Georgia. He added that the legal process is simply formalizing a decision through a judicial panel handpicked by Bidzina Ivanishvili.
He dismissed accusations that the opposition failed to present legal arguments and spread falsehoods during the proceedings, calling them "the arguments of a discredited and pathetic government." Parulava said the public has clearly seen the legal evidence, the historical facts and the reality.
In his view, banning political parties, which he described as associations of citizens, amounts to abolishing democracy. He said the Constitutional Court is providing the legal framework for it, which is a violation of the Constitution. "Georgian Dream will not get away with this," he said. According to Parulava, the ruling party is writing a shameful chapter in history, but "the Georgian people will tear it out," and the European Court will reach an objective decision on the case.
