On May 14, the pro-government TV channel Imedi, known for its editorial alignment with the authorities, published a social media card about the banning of political parties in European countries, using it to accuse the EU Ambassador to Georgia, Pawel Herczynski, of “double standards.” The post refers to the ambassador’s statement that “banning political opposition is not the European way.” Alongside this statement, the outlet includes information about four European countries: Ukraine, Moldova, Germany, and France. According to Imedi, all 12 opposition parties in Ukraine are banned; Moldova banned the opposition party “Shor”; Germany declared its largest opposition party an extremist group; and in France, opposition figure Marine Le Pen was charged and banned from political activity.
Imedi presents these facts about party bans in European countries out of context in relation to Pawel Herczynski’s statement and also spreads incorrect information regarding Ukraine:
- Not all opposition parties in Ukraine are banned. Since the start of the full-scale war in the country, the bans have applied not to undesirable opposition parties, but to pro-Russian ones;
- In Moldova, the Constitutional Court declared the party of a pro-Russian oligarch, who had fled the country, unconstitutional due to its Russian ties. However, the court allowed individual party members to run in elections either as independent candidates or under the banner of other parties;
- In France, Marine Le Pen was found guilty by a court of embezzling and misusing EU funds. As a result, she is temporarily barred from participating in elections, but she can still continue her political activities until new elections;
- In Germany, a far-right party was designated as an extremist organization. According to the agency responsible for safeguarding constitutional order, party members hold views based on “ethnicity and ancestry,” which contradict democratic values. Due to Germany’s Nazi past, such views are particularly problematic when expressed by a political party.
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Are “all” opposition parties banned in Ukraine?
The TV channel Imedi claims that all opposition parties in Ukraine are banned. The decision referred to by the pro-government media was made in May 2022. After the Ukrainian parliament voted in favor of a bill, on May 13, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the law banning pro-Russian parties engaged in anti-Ukrainian activities.
In reality, the bans in Ukraine targeted not parties that were merely undesirable to the government, but those that had links with Russia, which is at war with Ukraine. Based on the 2022 decision, the following parties had their activities suspended:
- Opposition Platform — For Life (ОПЗЖ)
- Party of Shariy (Партія Шарія)
- Nashi (Наші)
- Opposition Bloc (Опозиційний блок)
- Left Opposition (Ліва опозиція)
- Union of Left Forces (Союз лівих сил)
- Derzhava (Держава)
- Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (Прогресивна соціалістична партія України)
- Socialist Party of Ukraine (Соціалістична партія України)
- Socialists (Соціалісти)
- Volodymyr Saldo Bloc (Блок Володимира Сальдо)
It is important to note that these party bans were implemented by the court, based on legislation that prohibits ties to Russia. The largest among the listed political parties was the Opposition Platform — For Life. It was founded by Viktor Medvedchuk, a Kremlin ally. Medvedchuk, one of the wealthiest individuals in Ukraine and godfather to Vladimir Putin’s daughter, was sanctioned in Ukraine and charged with treason and terrorism. He was arrested while attempting to flee to Russia and was later exchanged for Azovstal defenders.
In 2024, another pro-Russian opposition party, Our Land (Наш край), was banned. According to Ukraine’s Security Service, its members were suspected of collaborating with Russia. Party leaders were reportedly involved in subversive activity against Ukraine – spreading anti-Ukrainian propaganda and calling for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order.
TV company Imedi’s claim that Ukraine has banned “all” opposition parties is false. The following parties are currently active in Ukrainian parliament:
- Servant of the People (Слуга народу); (the ruling party)
- For the Future (За майбутнє); (allied with the ruling party)
- Dovira (Довіра); (allied with the ruling party)
- European Solidarity (Європейська солідарність); (Petro Poroshenko’s party)
- Batkivshchyna (Батьківщина); (Yulia Tymoshenko’s party)
- Holos (Голос)
Currently, the mandates among the factions in the Ukrainian parliament are distributed as follows:
- Faction of the political party “Servant of the People” — 232 mandates
- Faction of the political party “Batkivshchyna” — 24 mandates
- Faction of the political party “European Solidarity” — 27 mandates
- Political party “Holos” at the parliament of the ninth convocation — 20 mandates
- Group “For the Future” — 17 mandates
- Group “Dovira” — 19 mandates
- Group “Platform for Life and Peace” — 21 mandates
- Group “Repair of Ukraine” — 17 mandates
- Non-affiliated deputies — 23 mandates
Myth Detector has previously reported about the banning of Russia-linked parties and media outlets in Ukraine.
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Why did Moldova ban Ilan Shor’s party?
To prove that the EU Ambassador is applying “double standards,” TV channel Imedi claimed that Moldova, an EU membership candidate, banned the opposition party Shor. In reality, in 2023, Moldova’s Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the party that belongs to fugitive pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor. Protest rallies in support of Shor were used by Russian intelligence to destabilize Moldova.
Ilan Shor, referred to by Western media as “the Kremlin’s man” in Moldova, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud and money laundering. While under house arrest, Shor fled to Israel and began organizing protests against the pro-European president Maia Sandu. According to Moldovan authorities, these rallies were part of a pro-Russian campaign aimed at replacing Moldova’s pro-European government with one loyal to the Kremlin. Due to his ties with Russia, Shor has been sanctioned by the UK, the U.S., and the EU.
Despite the party ban, in 2023 Moldova’s Constitutional Court allowed members of the Shor Party to run in elections either as independent candidates or under other party banners. It is also noteworthy that other pro-Russian politicians continue political activities in Moldova – for instance, Alexandr Stoianoglo, who was supported by the pro-Russian Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), ran in the presidential election.
Claims about the banning of parties in Moldova and the EU’s “positive assessment” of this decision have previously been repeated by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze as well.
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The Case of Marine Le Pen
In March 2025, a Paris court found far-right politician Marine Le Pen guilty of embezzling and misusing EU funds. She was banned from running for elected office for five years. Additionally, the court sentenced her to four years in prison and imposed a €100,000 fine. Two of the four years are to be served through alternative sentencing.
The court found that between 2004 and 2016, the far-right party National Rally (formerly National Front) embezzled EU funds meant for parliamentary staff in Strasbourg and Brussels and used them instead to pay party members working in France. The members in France had no connection to work undertaken at the European Parliament. The court found that this scheme had caused a loss of approximately €4.8 million to European funds. Le Pen, who served as an MEP from 2004 and led the party from 2011, was found guilty of signing eight fictitious employment contracts worth around €474,000. The court said that Le Pen was at the center of the wider “fake jobs” scheme.
Marine Le Pen has appealed the verdict, and its enforcement is suspended until all appeal procedures are exhausted. She may continue political activity unless new elections are called. She would be barred from running in the next elections.
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Germany’s Far-Right AfD Party
In May 2025, Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) designated the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as an extremist organization. The decision came after an “intensive and comprehensive” review, according to the BfV.
“The ethnicity- and ancestry-based conception of the people that predominates within the party is not compatible with the free democratic order. It aims to exclude certain population groups from equal participation in society, to subject them to treatment that violates the constitution, and thereby assign them a legally subordinate status,” said the BfV.
Being declared an extremist organization does not automatically lead to a ban, but it places AfD under close government surveillance. During discussions over the potential ban, former Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the issue “must not be rushed.” Current Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed skepticism about banning AfD, stating that it “smells too much like getting rid of political opponents to me.”
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Georgia’s Context and the Statement by Ambassador Herczynski
On May 13, Georgia’s one-party parliament, led by the Georgian Dream, passed in the third reading a legislative package aimed at banning opposition parties. The amendments were made to the laws “On Political Associations of Citizens” and “On the Constitutional Court.” According to the amendments, the Constitutional Court will now have the authority to ban a political party if its declared goals, nature of activities, and personnel composition repeat those of a party already banned by the Court.
During the election campaign, the Georgian Dream openly stated that it needed a constitutional majority to put its political opponent, the United National Movement (UNM), on trial. Banning the UNM was a pre-election promise. After the elections, the ruling party declared its intention to label as unconstitutional all parties it considers “successors” or “satellites” of the UNM. These terms are applied by the Georgian Dream to many opposition parties that did not recognize the results of the 2024 parliamentary elections announced by the Central Election Commission and refused to enter the parliament of the 11th convocation. Currently, the Georgian Dream carries out activities in the parliament alongside “People’s Power,” a group formed by former Georgian Dream politicians in 2022. In the 2024 elections, “People’s Power” ran on Georgian Dream’s party list.
It was in response to the adoption of this party-banning legislation in the third reading that the EU Ambassador to Georgia made the following statement:
“We are closely monitoring what is happening in Georgia. As I have already said, the European Union is based on very clear principles, one of which is democracy, implying a multi-party system. This means that citizens should have the right to create political parties, participate in elections, and be represented in parliament. Banning political opposition is not the European way. The European way is dialogue, even in the presence of disagreements. It is when people make compromises and reach a common position based on mutual understanding, tolerance, and movement toward the European Union. Unfortunately, this is not happening in Georgia.”
Citing this, Imedi TV has claimed the ambassador applies “double standards,” and in the social media card manipulatively includes information about European countries: in Ukraine, not all opposition parties are banned; the grounds for declaring some parties unconstitutional were the ties to Russia, and President Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party shares parliamentary mandates with opposition figures. In Moldova, the banned party referenced by Imedi belonged to pro-Russian Ilan Shor, who has ties to the Kremlin. As for French politician Marine Le Pen, she was found guilty by a court of embezzling funds, which is why her participation in elections is temporarily restricted. Regarding Germany’s far-right party AfD, even the German Chancellor is skeptical of banning it. The party was declared an extremist organization by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which is an intelligence agency.
It is also worth noting that France and Germany are liberal democracies. According to the V-Dem dataset, Germany scores 0.79 and France 0.8 out of 1 on the Liberal Democracy Index. Georgia’s score is 0.33. Furthermore, these two Western European countries have strong, independent institutions. In most of the above-mentioned cases, decisions were made by courts that score highly in various international evaluations. For example, Germany’s judicial accountability is rated 3.78 out of 4, France’s 2.93, and Georgia’s just 0.64. Western partners see threats to ban political parties in Georgia as part of a growing anti-democratic rhetoric. In addition to the EU Ambassador, the U.S. State Department also expressed “deep concern” over Georgian Dream’s pledge to ban opposition parties. According to the Venice Commission, the decision to ban or dissolve a political party should be made by the Constitutional Court, based on principles of an open and fair trial. Such a ban should be an exceptional measure, respecting the principle of proportionality and backed by sufficient evidence that the party as a whole, not merely its individual members, engages in unconstitutional activities.
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