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Georgia’s party-ban hearings open in Batumi on 21 October as the opposition plans protests

The Constitutional Court’s proceedings on the petition to ban opposition parties begin on 21 October, Coalition for Change leader Nika Gvaramia said on 15 October, naming Batumi as the venue and promising to attend, Interpressnews reported. The opposition alliance announced a protest campaign from 25 October to a rally on 28 November, and Georgian Dream’s majority meets Bidzina Ivanishvili on 17 October.

By CAW Staff16 October 2026
A stone and glass court building at sunset beside the sea with palm trees an amber lamp under its entrance canopy and empty benches on the plaza.

The proceedings regarding the constitutional petition to ban opposition parties are set to begin on 21 October, Interpressnews reported at 15:20 Tbilisi time, quoting Gvaramia. We will be in Batumi, in the courtroom, in front of the court and on the streets of Tbilisi, everywhere we can reach Georgian Dream, he said. Some parties may present their position and others may not, he added, speaking only for his own.

Elene Khoshtaria of Droa said the same evening that she, the coalition and the opposition would take part in the sessions aimed at dismantling Georgian Dream, by Interpressnews’s headline. The court’s own statement on the hearing’s dates is not among the items CAW read on Interpressnews’s and Civil.ge’s pages on Thursday and Friday morning, and Civil.ge’s front page served an archive of year-end dispatches.

Some parties may present their position and others may not, he added, speaking only for his own.

The petition, filed on 24 September, passed to the full court on 6 October, and judge Manana Kobakhidze left the court on 13 October, CAW reported. Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on Thursday that if the petition’s arguments proved convincing and the parties were declared unconstitutional, democracy would be strengthened and society would rejoice, by the outlet’s headline.

The opposition alliance said it was launching a protest campaign on 25 October that would culminate in a large-scale rally on 28 November, Interpressnews reported at 14:38. A meeting of the Georgian Dream majority will be held on 17 October with Ivanishvili attending, the outlet reported at 16:21, and majority leader Irakli Kirtskhalia called reports of his resignation rumours and falsehoods.

Zurab Japaridze of Girchi returned to Georgia on Thursday after Turkish border officers denied him entry and held him on Wednesday, Interpressnews reported at 13:03. He said he had been banned from entering Türkiye since November 2025 and that the Turkish side had received its information from official Georgian authorities. The interior ministry said on Wednesday that Georgian police had not requested a ban on his entry into any country, by the outlet’s headline. No charge against him is printed by either side.

Kaja Kallas said on Thursday she did not expect in-depth discussions on Georgia or the Black Sea at the European Council summit, though the topics would likely arise in the context of security, Interpressnews reported at 14:45.

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