Court Rules Inadmissible Appeals Against CEC Decision on Opening Limited Precincts Abroad
On September 30, the Tbilisi City Court ruled inadmissible all three appeals against the Central Election Commission’s decision to open only a limited number of polling stations abroad, despite requests from emigrants to open more in certain cities.
The appeals were all considered independently. The initiators were the United National Movement, represented before the Court by Tamar Kordzaia, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), and former judge Beso Alavidze. All three appeals asked the court to overturn the CEC’s decree stating that no additional precincts would be opened for the elections and urged it to open more precincts, particularly in Spain, Italy, France and the U.S.
“The [Court’s] rulings question the principles of elections such as universality and equality…” said ISFED lawyer Rati Tinikashvili, adding that the organization plans to appeal against the Court’s decision to the Appeals Court.
The opposition member of the CEC, Ana Kobakhidze, stated that the decision of the CEC and the court ruling deprived 90% of immigrants of the right to vote. She said that following the court’s decision there is no legal way to solve this issue anymore and that they will push for a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get an explanation as to why more polling stations cannot be opened abroad. She said MFA should provide information on whether the available polling stations will be up to standards to accommodate the emigrants who will have to travel for hours to vote, and whether they won’t have to stand in long lines and feel uncomfortable.
The UNM representative to the court, Tamar Kordzaia, stressed that this decision proves that all branches of the current government are involved in “fulfilling Bidzina Ivanishvili’s task”. She notes that Judge Salome Samkharadze, who deprived emigrants of their voting right, is directly linked to the most prominent representative of the “judicial clan,” U.S.-sanctioned Judge Levan Murusidze, and was appointed as a judge for life only for that reason.
“At the court session yesterday, they didn’t physically allow me – the plaintiff – to enter the hall until I entered by force. So everything confirms that all branches of the government are doing incredible things so that the citizens of Georgia won’t be able to make their choice, protect it, but this is very temporary. They will definitely end October 26 very roughly,” Kordzaia says.
Also Read:
- 29/03/2024 – President Criticizes MFA for Declining to Streamline Emigrant Voting
- 01/03/2024 – EECMD Urges Speedy Discussion of Draft Law to Streamline Emigrants’ Voting
- 17/01/2024 – CEC 2024 Action Plan Criticized for Ignoring Emigrant Vote
- 20/12/2023 – CEC Reacts to “Ballot box in your city” Campaign
- 28/11/2023 – Politicians Want to Bring More Georgians Abroad to Ballot Boxes in 2024
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