The Tbilisi Court of Appeal overturned the decision of judge Vladimir Khuchua, who confirmed the violation of the secrecy of voting in the parliamentary elections.
"Echo of the Caucasus" writes about it.
Itʼs about the decision of the judge of the Tetritskaroi Court of November 4, which invalidated the results at 30 polling stations in the cities of Tetra-Tskaro and Tsalka.
Then the judge found that some of the forms were transparent and on the back side one could see marks with a marker in front of the candidate — this was recognized by the judge as a violation of the secrecy of the vote.
The appeal, out of 23 consolidated complaints, satisfied only the request of the Central Election Commission, which demanded the annulment of the decision to re-hold the elections in these polling stations. Non-governmental organizations demanded annulment of the results.
What is known about this yearʼs elections in Georgia
Parliamentary elections in Georgia were held on October 26. According to the Central Election Commission, the pro-government party "Georgian Dream — Democratic Georgia" won with 53.9% of the vote. According to Georgian laws, this party gets the right to single-handedly form the government. The barrier of 5% was overcome by four more pro-Western opposition parties: "Coalition for Changes" — 10.92%, "Unity — National Movement" — 10.12%, "Strong Georgia" — 8.78% and "Gakharia — for Georgia" — 7.76%.
The opposition did not agree with the results and started holding protests.
View from different sides
The OSCE representatives stated that the election process in Georgia violated international democratic standards. Observers noticed cases of bribery of votes, double voting, physical violence and intimidation of voters, but the fact of direct falsifications was not confirmed. The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, called for an investigation into the parliamentary elections in Georgia. On October 28, an action by opposition supporters took place in Tbilisi, where the current president Salome Zurabishvili emphasized the illegitimacy of the elections. One of the leaders of the "United National Movement" party Georgy Vashadze said at the rally that the opposition demands re-elections, which will be held by the international administration.
On October 29, the Central Election Commission of Georgia declared that it would count the ballots of five polling stations (approximately 14% of the polling stations) in each electoral district to verify the data.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated that the country "carefully observed the course of the parliamentary elections" in Georgia and supports the conclusions of the international OSCE mission, which recorded numerous violations.
The agency also called for an investigation into the vote to ensure the legitimacy of the election and avoid a political crisis.
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