Opposition Appeal on Disputed Sakrebulo Seat Rejected

The Tbilisi City Court turned down a lawsuit filed by the Republican and Conservative parties’ election bloc demanding the annulment of a Central Election Commission decision regarding the distribution of seats in the Tbilisi city council (Sakrebulo).
 
After the October 5 local elections the CEC allocated 34 seats in the Sakrebulo to the ruling National Movement party. Representatives of the Republican and Conservative coalition, the Labor Party and the Industrialist party were each given one of the three remaining seats.
 
But the election bloc formed by the Conservative and Republican parties argued that it should have been given two seats.

This dispute comes as no surprise, as the rule on the distribution of seats in the Sakrebulo is open to some interpretation.
 
?We will now appeal to the Constitutional Court and then to the Court in Strasbourg [European Court of Human Rights]. Then we will come to power and establish such courts that will never act like the current courts do,? leader of the Republican party Davit Usupashvili said on October 13 following the court ruling.

On October 12 two election observer organizations, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) and Georgian Young Lawyers? Association (GYLA), issued a joint statement condemning the CEC?s decision and calling for the distribution of seats in the Tbilisi Sakrebulo to be based on the provisions of the Election Code.

?We consider the mentioned decision of the Central Election Commission as a violation of the norms of the Election Code. Following this, we urge the courts that will be considering the matter to be impartial, to remedy the unlawful decision of the Central Election Commission and in its decision abide by the requirements of the election legislation,? the statement reads.

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