Georgian President Appeals to Constitutional Court Over Alleged Election Fraud

"This lawsuit addresses the violation of two constitutional rights. The first is the violation of the principle of universality, which is evident in the fact that our citizens living abroad were not only restricted in their constitutional rights but were also prohibited from participating in the elections."

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Georgia's President, Salome Zurabishvili, has formally appealed to the Constitutional Court, asking it to declare the results of the recent parliamentary elections fraudulent.

Eka Beselia, who will represent Zurabishvili in court, shared details of the appeal with journalists, The Caspian Post, reports, citing TASS. 

"This lawsuit addresses the violation of two constitutional rights. The first is the violation of the principle of universality, which is evident in the fact that our citizens living abroad were not only restricted in their constitutional rights but were also prohibited from participating in the elections. The second important principle is the secrecy of voting. There is more than one piece of evidence regarding the violation of the secrecy of voting, which violates the constitutional standard," said Beselia.

The Constitutional Court has three days to decide whether to accept the lawsuit for consideration. If the case is accepted, the court will have 30 days to deliver a verdict. Zurabishvili announced that she would file the lawsuit on Monday to declare the elections fraudulent.

The parliamentary elections were held in Georgia on October 26. According to the final data from the Central Election Commission, the ruling party "Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia" won with 53.93% of the votes and secured 89 out of 150 seats in the legislature. The opposition parties "Coalition for Change" (11.03% of votes, 19 seats), "Unity - National Movement" (10.17% of votes, 16 seats), "Strong Georgia" (8.81% of votes, 14 seats), and "Gakharia for Georgia" (7.78% of votes, 12 seats) surpassed the 5% threshold.

All opposition parties that entered parliament refused to recognize the election results, believing them to be fraudulent. Opposition leaders have been holding protests since November 4.