Court Refuses to Bar Saakashvili, Patarkatsishvili from Race

Tbilisi City Court turned down an appeal by an election watchdog group late on December 22, refusing to strip Mikheil Saakashvili and Badri Patarkatsishvili of their presidential candidacy status for alleged attempts at bribing voters.

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) had claimed that Saakashvili had violated the election code twice – once when he gave a computer to a schoolchild and the second time when his campaign headquarters printed campaign leaflets, each one containing three free tickets to an amusement park.

The court, however, said the presents were intended for children, not for voters, and hence did not constitute bribery of voters.

Regarding Patarkatsishvili, GYLA had argued, that the election code was violated when he promised to spend GEL 1.5 billion of his own money on paying a portion of people’s electricity and gas bills and on financial allowances for unemployed people, if elected.

The court, however, accepted the Patarkatsishvili campaign argument that the intended funds would first go to state coffers – as a grant to the state – and would then be spent on the social needs of citizens.