Lelo – Strong Georgia urges Public Defender to weigh in on constitutional lawsuit to ban opposition parties

“Ivanishvili’s anti-Georgian Dream is trying to take away the Georgian people’s political choice and cancel out the political will of a million citizens,” said Giorgi Sioridze, a member of Lelo – Strong Georgia.

Sioridze argued that the initiative to ban parties is not merely a fight against opposition political organisations: “it is an attack on citizens’ fundamental rights, on democratic choice and on Georgia’s constitutional order”.

He called on the Public Defender to set out a legal position on the constitutional lawsuit seeking to ban the parties.

“We call on Georgia’s Public Defender not to stand aside from this process, but to use the powers granted by the Constitution and the law and present a legal position. When authorities strip citizens of the right to political choice, the Public Defender must protect human rights and every citizen’s freedom; must protect the people. At a time when the country’s institutional safeguards have broken down, it is especially important to use every legal and international lever. Everyone who recognises that human rights and the fate of democracy in Georgia hang in the balance must participate in this process.

We expect the Public Defender to engage in this process within the scope of her mandate and to submit a legal opinion assessing the constitutionality and possible consequences of restricting citizens’ political rights. But the party ban carries far greater dangers than simply outlawing the political activity of opposition organisations and their members. The lawsuit portrays criticism of the ruling party’s foreign policy as ‘state sabotage’. This sets a dangerous precedent, whereby opposing the government’s foreign policy could be declared an act against the constitutional order.

Should the Constitutional Court rule in favour of the lawsuit, the policy of ‘non-provocation’ towards Russia could effectively become a binding tenet of national politics. The Euro-Atlantic course enshrined in Article 78 of the Constitution is Georgia’s strategic choice, tied to the country’s security, freedom and prospects for a peaceful future. And that choice runs counter to Russia’s imperial interests. If Georgia’s foreign and security policy is judged by whether it will ‘provoke’ Russia, Article 78 will remain only on paper, and the real veto over the country’s policy will pass to Moscow, to the Kremlin. This would not only disregard constitutional principles but subordinate Georgia’s sovereign rights to the interests of the occupying state,” Sioridze said.