Tbilisi Court of Appeal rejects GYLA’s complaint to annul results of 1293 polling stations

The Tbilisi Court of Appeal on Thursday rejected the complaint of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) to annul the results of 1293 election precincts in Eastern Georgia, according to a statement released by the organization.

GYLA argued that the court failed to protect the constitutional right of voters, specifically the secrecy of the vote in the October 26 general elections. The statement claims that despite presenting evidence of widespread violations of voter secrecy, the court did not invalidate the election results.

“As a result of nearly 24-hour deliberations, the Tbilisi Court of Appeal did not satisfy the complaint of GYLA regarding the massive violation of vote secrecy,” the statement read. “The court did not uphold the constitutional right of voters.”

GYLA also pointed out that a similar decision had been made by the Kutaisi Court of Appeal regarding polling stations in Western Georgia.