Issue no: 1499
• MAY 2 - 8 , 2025 • PUBLISHED WEEKLY
FOCUS ON "PUTIN'S GEORGIA" If nothing changes, Georgia will become Belarus, says Gennady Gudkov, former FSB officer and State Duma deputy
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PRICE: GEL 2.50
In this week’s issue... Armenian President Expresses Hope for Peace with Azerbaijan, thanks Georgia for Support NEWS PAGE 2
Ukraine Latest: US and Ukraine Sign Long-Awaited Minerals Deal POLITICS PAGE 3
Pioneering New Frontiers: Promoting Georgia in Asia and Shaping the Future of Global Tourism BUSINESS PAGE 6
ASB Georgia Launches “Girls Must Say No” Campaign against Gender-based and Domestic Violence
Bidzina Ivanishvili
Parliament Adopts Party Ban Law with Unanimous Vote
SOCIETY PAGE 9
Balanchine Returns to Tbilisi: A Homecoming in Shadow and Light CULTURE PAGE 10
BY MARIAM RAZMADZE
Theater Factory 42 Goes Bilingual: English Subtitles as Solidarity
G
eorgia’s Parliament has passed a legislative package for banning political parties with increased and tightened rules in its second reading, with all 79 MPs voting in
favor. The amendments target so-called ‘successor parties’ that resemble banned political groups. Under the revised law, the Constitutional Court will be able to prohibit a party if its “declared purpose, essence of activity and personnel composition” mirrors those of a previously cancelled organization. A primary change in the second reading cuts the court’s decision deadline to just 14 days, regardless of whether it is an election period. Previously, the law allowed up to nine months for non-election periods. “This is a logical deadline,” said ruling party
CULTURE PAGE 11 Prepared for Georgia Today Business by
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Photo: Tbilisi Local Guide.
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MP Tornike Cheishvili. “The Court will already have ruled on the parent party, so establishing the identity of the successor’s activity and composition won’t take much time.”
The package amends both the ‘Law on Political Unions of Citizens’ and the ‘Law on the Constitutional Court’ and now proceeds to a final reading.
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