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 3 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.