Georgia's ruling party plans to ban radical opposition

Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, has announced its intention to outlaw all radical opposition parties by the end of 2025.

This move will target parties whose leaders have committed criminal acts that undermine the constitutional order and advocate for revolutionary attempts to overthrow the government, Caliber.Az reports via Georgian media. 

Mmamuka Mdinaradze, the executive secretary of Georgian Dream and leader of the parliamentary majority, made this announcement during a briefing on Monday. He confirmed that the government plans to eliminate radical and Nazi parties by the close of this year.

“By the end of this year, all radical and Nazi opposition parties will be banned in Georgia,” Mdinaradze stated. He added that the parliamentary commission currently investigating the criminal activities of former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s regime will submit its findings by September, after which the case will be forwarded to the prosecutor's office.

Mdinaradze highlighted the likelihood that the main radical opposition party, the United National Movement, along with its satellite parties, will participate in the local elections scheduled for October. He anticipates a crushing defeat for these parties, which will then prompt Georgian Dream to immediately file a petition to the Constitutional Court demanding the ban of all radical parties calling for a change of power through revolutionary means.

He expressed confidence that the Constitutional Court, if it acts impartially, will have no other option but to rule in favour of the petition. However, opposition representatives have continued to accuse the authorities of efforts to establish a dictatorship and impose a one-party rule in Georgia.

By Aghakazim Guliyev