# Georgian Dream **Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia** is the ruling party of [[Georgia (country)]], founded at a congress on 21 April 2012 by the billionaire [[Bidzina Ivanishvili]] and in power continuously since that October. It began as the broad coalition that ended Mikheil Saakashvili's government and became, over a decade, the instrument of Georgia's turn away from the EU. ## From coalition to one-man party | Election | Result | |---|---| | October 2012 | Six-party coalition wins 54.97% and 85 seats, ousting Saakashvili's United National Movement | | October 2016 | 48.68%, 115 of 150 seats — a constitutional majority *[seat count single-sourced]* | | October 2020 | 48.22%, 90 seats | | 26 October 2024 | 53.93%, 89 of 150 seats; certified 16 November 2024 amid fraud allegations and an opposition boycott | | 4 October 2025 (municipal) | Wins all 64 municipalities with 81.68% of the proportional vote on 40.93% turnout, with much of the opposition boycotting *[final figure single-sourced]* | The coalition partners left one by one — the Free Democrats in 2014, the Republicans and National Forum in 2016. In May 2023 the party gave up its observer status in the Party of European Socialists after criticism that included its attendance at [[CPAC]]. **[[Irakli Kobakhidze]]** is both prime minister and party chair (re-elected chair 7 May 2025); Ivanishvili holds the "honorary chairman" post created for him on 30 December 2023. ## The legislative sequence | Date | Law | |---|---| | 28 May 2024 | "Transparency of Foreign Influence" law passed over the presidential veto — registration for organizations with more than 20% foreign funding | | 17 September 2024 | "Family values" law amending 18 statutes to restrict LGBT rights; signed by the speaker on 3 October after President Zourabichvili refused | | 1 April 2025 | A second foreign-agents law modeled on the American [[FARA]], with prison terms of up to five years; in force 31 May 2025 | | April 2025 | Broadcasting amendments banning foreign funding of broadcasters; a grants law requiring government approval for foreign grants | The sequence matters more than any single law. Each closed a funding route — foreign donors to NGOs, then to media, then grants of any kind — so that by mid-2025 independent civil society and journalism had no lawful outside money left. ## The opposition-ban lawsuit On 30 October 2025 Georgian Dream asked the Constitutional Court to ban the United National Movement, Coalition for Change (Ahali) and Strong Georgia–Lelo under Article 23 of the constitution. It refiled in April 2026 to add the Federalists, and on 14 September 2026 moved to add former prime minister Giorgi Gakharia's For Georgia — five parties, the whole of the parliamentary opposition. Each refiling restarts the court's nine-month clock. Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on 12 September 2026 the parties would be banned "by January" *[single-sourced]*. ## Why it matters here Georgian Dream is the vault's test case for the claim that the illiberal template travels on its own. It does not describe itself as pro-Russian; Georgia has no diplomatic relations with Moscow. It describes itself as defending sovereignty and traditional values against a "Global War Party" in Brussels and Washington — language that maps closely onto the European and American national-conservative right, and onto [[Fidesz]]'s playbook in [[Hungary]]. See [[Illiberal Democracy]] and [[Post-Soviet States]]. ## See Also - [[Bidzina Ivanishvili]] - [[Georgia (country)]] - [[Irakli Kobakhidze]] - [[Mikheil Kavelashvili]] - [[Fidesz]] - [[FARA]]