Explainer | The 16 legislative changes that have shaped Georgia’s authoritarian slide

Georgia’s Parliament has undertaken such a vast legislative agenda in recent years that it can be hard to keep track of what laws have been passed. Here’s what you need to know about the broad swath of legislation that critics argue have significantly undermined civil rights and the rule of law in Georgia.

The exact beginning of Georgia’s current — and seemingly unending — political crisis is hard to pinpoint, but most analysts and Georgia watchers agree that the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 marked a turning point. Since then, the ruling Georgian Dream party has slowly but surely tightened its grip on the country and worked to eliminate any checks on its power.

For the first year, the shift mostly came in the form of rhetoric, as the Georgian government increasingly took a critical tone toward the West. Then, starting in 2023, a slow, but steadily growing wave of legislation was passed that has fundamentally changed the country.

Outside of Georgia, the crisis made headlines after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced in November 2024 that the government would be suspending its efforts to join the EU until 2028. Street protests, which had largely failed to attract huge crowds after the parliamentary elections the month before — widely viewed as rigged — suddenly erupted, and continue to this day, albeit with diminishing returns.

Over these past three years, Georgian Dream has embarked on an all-encompassing legislative agenda, passing laws that both remade the government and impacted a vast spectrum of Georgian society. The legislative avalanche has been so broad it can be difficult to keep track of what has been passed.

Here’s what you need to know about Georgian Dream’s sweeping legislative moves since 2022:

1. The Foreign Agents Law

The foreign agents law is likely the most famous piece of legislation passed in Georgia in recent years. It was first introduced in February 2023 and then withdrawn a month later in the face of mass street protests. However, it was then re-introduced in April 2024, causing condemnation from civil society and the country’s Western partners, as well as reigniting street demonstrations. This time, the government ploughed forward undeterred and passed the law in May 2024.

The legislation labels any civil society or media organisation that received at least 20% of its funding from outside Georgia ‘organisations carrying out the interests of a foreign power’. Such organisations would be subject to ‘monitoring’ by the Ministry of Justice every six months, which could include forcing them to hand over internal communications and documents and confidential sources. Organisations that do not comply would be subject to large fines.

2. FARA

Although the foreign agents law has been widely seen as being overbroad and an infringement of civil rights and the freedom of speech, Georgian Dream deemed it not effective enough, as many of the organisations it was intended to target refused to comply. As a result, the government introduced what it called an exact, word-for-word translation of the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which was then passed in April 2025.

Under the law, a foreign agent is defined as any person (legal or physical) who is under the control of, or acts at the direction of, a foreign power and acts in the interests of that foreign power. This means that, unlike the foreign agents law, FARA also affects individuals. It is up to the anti-corruption bureau under the prime minister’s office to decide who is ‘working at the direction of a foreign power’.

Failure to comply with the law can be punishable by up to five years of imprisonment, a fine of up to ₾10,000 ($3,600), or both.

3. Banning opposition parties

Ahead of the October 2024 parliamentary elections, Georgian Dream officials said that if they received a constitutional majority, the party would seek a constitutional ban of the ‘collective UNM’ — which, given the government’s own flexible usage of the term — many took to mean as an intent to ban all opposition parties not under the government’s thumb. Even though Georgian Dream fell short of a constitutional majority, it has followed through with its plan, albeit in a more convoluted fashion.

The prior version of the law allowed the Constitutional Court to prohibit a party with specific goals, including overthrowing the constitutional order, violating the country’s territorial integrity, or inciting discord on national, religious, or other grounds.

The new version of the legislation, passed in May 2025, simplified the process of banning political parties, allowing the Constitutional Court to also ban any parties whose goals, activities, or party lists ‘substantially repeat’ those of another party that has already been banned under the same article.

Separately, Georgian Dream has embarked on an ongoing process to investigate the alleged crimes of the UNM (and what it claims are its satellites) through a parliamentary commission, the conclusions of which the government said would be used to appeal to the Constitutional Court to seek to ban the UNM and other parties.

Taken altogether, particularly given the loose wording of the legislation and the widely-held view that the judiciary is largely beholden to Georgian Dream, critics have warned that the moves could mean the effective banning of all opposition parties — even ones that have yet to be created.

4. Protest-related restrictions

Shortly after the beginning of the still ongoing protest movement that erupted in response to the government’s EU U-turn, Georgian Dream introduced several pieces of legislation that tightened penalties on demonstrators and expanded related police powers.

The amendments to Georgia’s legal code, which were signed into law by newly elected President Mikheil Kavaleshvali in December, consisted of the following elements:

• A ban on wearing face-coverings at protests, the violation of which can result in a fine of ₾2,000 ($730).
• The prohibition of protests in closed spaces or buildings without the owner’s prior approval.
• Restrictions on the sale of fireworks (which were used by protesters at the beginning of the protests and became a symbol of the first month of demonstrations), and a ban on attending demonstrations with fireworks, even if they are not actually used. Violations can result in fines of ₾1,000 ($365) for low-level offences and up to ₾15,000 ($5,500) for the organised distribution of regulated fireworks. Punishment can also include up to 15 days in jail.
• A ban on the use of laser pointers at protests (also widely used by demonstrators), the violation of which can result in a fine of ₾2,000 ($730).
• Increased fines, up to ₾1,000 ($365), for placing stickers, inscriptions, or other protest related materials on public buildings or structures.
• Penalties for the parents of minors if their children are found to have broken laws at protests, with fines of up to ₾300 ($110).
• The introduction of preventative detention by police on the assumption that an alleged offender may commit another crime, even if they have not already. Critics have said the vagueness of the statue can be used by the government to justify arresting people on mere suspicion of crimes.

Besides these, likely the most impactful protest-related restriction has been legislation introduced to significantly increase fines for either individuals or drivers, for blocking the road during a protest. Previously, the fine for individuals was ₾500 ($180), but the December amendments increased it to ₾5,000 ($1,800). In addition, there appears to be no limit on repeated fines for the same alleged offence that occurred on different occasion — OC Media’s Mariam Nikuradze has racked up ₾20,000 ($7,300) in fines for four separate alleged violations, all of which occurred while she was performing journalistic duties.

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If drivers are deemed to have joined a protest from their vehicle and contributed to the blocking of a road, they can be fined ₾1,000 ($365) and lose their driver’s license for up to a year.

An additional feature of the road-blocking related legislative changes is that the designation of what constitutes a ‘strategic facility’ has widened to include major roads. Blocking such a ‘strategic facility’ can result in criminal charges, not just a fine.

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5. Outlawing ‘LGBT propaganda’ and a ban on trans healthcare

Before the legislative onslaught entered full swing in late 2024, the parliament passed a package of laws that introduced wide-ranging restrictions on the rights of queer people in Georgia.

The package, which consisted of one primary law and 18 other related pieces of legislation, impacted a number of spheres, including education, healthcare, media, business, and public gatherings.

It banned the publication of what the authorities consider ‘LGBT Propaganda’, as well as public demonstrations in favour of queer rights.

It also prohibited any and all gender affirming healthcare, including providing trans people with crucial hormone therapy.

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6. Electoral changes

A series of legislative changes have also impacted Georgia’s electoral system, restricting how elections are monitored and altering the format of the country’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) itself.

The first set of changes came in 2024, during the protests against the foreign agents law, and allows the CEC to issue a decree with a simple majority if it does not receive support from two-thirds of its members.

The CEC has 17 members — eight nominally non-partisan, and the other nine representing political groups, including the ruling Georgian Dream party. The amendment effectively allows the CEC to make rulings with nine votes instead of 12, that is, effectively without the support of its eight members who represent opposition groups.

The changes also bar any person with the right to be in the building from ‘physically obstructing the movement of voters in the polling room’.

In addition, the amendments would prohibit the ‘requirement to show a voters ID’, and ‘photo–video recording or other processing of a voter’s identity document, voter data displayed on a voter verification machine, voter verification receipt printed from a voter verification machine, and the choice made by a voter on the ballot’.

Earlier in 2025, the parliament introduced three changes to the laws on electoral observation, prohibiting polling station observers from processing data related to voter verification, as well as from requiring voters to show their ID document.

7. Amendments to the broadcasting law

Since the October 2024 parliamentary elections, the ruling Georgian Dream government has passed two main legislative changes to the country’s broadcasting laws, which allow the government to impose ‘coverage standards’ on broadcasters, as well as to regulate their funding by prohibiting them from receiving foreign financing. Georgian Dream parliamentary leader Mamuka Mdinaradze said the changes would make the legislation ‘in line with the British model and legislation’. Following this, the government said it would expand the restrictions to include online media, but the move has not yet been enshrined into law.

In June 2025, Georgian Dream filed lawsuits against the opposition-aligned TV channels Formula, Mtavari, and TV Pirveli, citing the ‘coverage standards’ changes stemming from the broadcasting laws.

The lawsuit was based on objections to the channels’ use of critical terms, including ‘illegitimate parliament’, ‘so-called parliament speaker’, ‘oligarch’s MP’, ‘regime’s city court’, ‘Ivanishvili’s regime’, and ‘regime prisoners’.

8. Increased punishments for ‘insulting’, ‘threatening’, or ‘disobeying’ police officers or public officials

Amidst changes to the country’s criminal code, the parliament also increased a variety of punishments, including fines and higher criminal penalties, for ‘threatening’ or ‘disobeying’ police officers.

In addition, there was new provision in the criminal code that would punish attacks or threats of violence against political officials, public servants, or other government employees.

But the changes did not only impact direct verbal or other threats to public officials — under the new changes, ‘insulting’ a public official in connection with their work is now an administrative offence.

Since then, there have been numerous cases of Georgians being fined for ‘insulting’ politicians or police officers, including on social media, as well as a more recent episode in May in which two activists were sentenced to 12 days of administrative detention after publicly berating Georgian Dream MP Mariam Lashkhi.

9. Streamlining of police recruitment

The change allows the Interior Minister to determine the rules and conditions for police recruitment through an order, without a special competition. Critics of the amendment have said that the legislative change was a response to high turnover among police and related staffing issues, noting that it essentially means the standards have been lowered to recruit more officers.

10. Simplified reorganisation of the public sector

The December amendments altered the positions of some mid-level civil servants to be contract employees, as well as simplifying the reorganisation process within the public sector as a whole. Mamuka Mdinaradze, leader of Georgian Dream’s faction in parliament, said that the moves would ‘ensure the revitalisation of the public sector’, but opponents of the amendments have argued that the changes would make it easier for the government to purge employees deemed to be critical of Georgian Dream.

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11. Removing the word ‘gender’ from legislation and abolishing gender quotas

The law, introduced by a group of 19 MPs from Georgian Dream and its satellite party, People’s Power, sought to ban the use of the word ‘gender’ or the term ‘gender equality’, in any form from Georgian legislation. It was passed in April 2025.

Earlier, in 2024, the parliament also passed an amendment to repeal gender quotas in parliamentary election lists.

12. Ending the mandatory involvement of civil society organisations in public decision making

In February 2025, Georgian Dream introduced a legislative package in parliament that would end the mandatory participation of civil society organisations from all public decision-making processes — one of the reforms mandated by the EU as part of Georgia’s accession process. The legislation became law in April 2025.

13. The reintroduction of treason into the criminal code

Georgian Dream introduced legislation in February to restore the article of treason to Georgia’s criminal code, which Georgian Dream parliamentary leader Mamuka Mdinaradze said had been removed from the books under the tenure of the previous ruling party, the United National Movement (UNM). The legislation included a number of offences under the ‘new’ crime of treason — all of which were already punishable under other articles of the criminal code.

14. Restrictions on receiving grants from abroad

Georgian Dream’s efforts to reign in the country’s civil society sector were furthered by an amendment introduced in April 2025 that tightened restrictions on the ability of domestic NGOs to receive grants from abroad.

Under the new legislation, which was passed in April 2025, civil society organisations must obtain ‘the consent of the government or an authorised person/body designated by the government’ before receiving a grant from outside of Georgia. In addition, the grant-making organisation must also submit a copy of the grant to the Georgian government beforehand.

Critics of the changes have argued that the tightened restrictions will limit the overall flow of foreign grants into the country, and that the government will use the measures to choke off funds to civil society organisations deemed to be opponents of Georgian Dream.

The government has also announced that they will be providing their own grants to civil society groups.

15. Restrictions on journalists’ access to parliament

Back in 2023, before Georgia’s political crisis entered full swing, the government introduced new restrictions on the ability of journalists to cover parliamentary proceedings. The new rules, called a ‘code of conduct’ for journalists, allow authorities to ban journalists for questioning MPs after they refuse to respond to queries. The opposition and media rights groups have raised concerns that the rules will be used against critical outlets.

16. The tightening of drug laws

Outside of the political sphere, the parliament has also passed legislation to tighten Georgia’s drug laws.

In addition to longer prison sentences and higher fines, refusing to take a drug test will now be punishable, and a system of ‘mandatory treatment’ for users will also be introduced.

Fines and administrative detention terms have been increased for the illegal manufacture, acquisition, possession, transportation, or shipment of small quantities of drugs (excluding the cannabis plant), or the use of pharmaceutical drugs without a medical prescription. The previous penalty was a ₾500 ($180) fine or up to 15 days in detention; the new law raises this to a fine ranging from ₾500 ($180) to ₾2,000 ($730) or up to 60 days in detention.

Despite the ostensible non-political nature of the changes, Georgian Dream justified the legislation by arguing that ‘liberal’ drug laws had been ‘externally imposed’ on Georgia.

Legislation that has been introduced but not passed

1. Tightening of restrictions on foreigners

In April, Georgia’s Interior Ministry submitted a package of legislation to parliament to increase restrictions on foreigners who are staying in Georgia, which the government argued was necessary to ‘improve the fight against illegal migration and refine regulations related to the granting of asylum’.

The new regulations mostly concern foreigners who overstay their visa or commit crimes while in Georgia, and increase their related penalties, such as the possibility of lengthened ban on entry or monetary fines.

2. Additional broadcast funding restrictions

Beyond the existing broadcasting laws that have already been passed, there are additional measures in the works that would further limit the ability for opposition-aligned TV channels to operate with external funding.

Already, broadcasters are prohibited from receiving direct or indirect funding — including money or other material benefits of property value — from ‘a foreign power’.

The new draft law would grant the Communications Commission the authority to petition the court for access to confidential financial information about broadcasters from banks.