Salome Zourabichvili. (Interpressnews.)
TBILISI, DFWatch–Tbilisi City Court on Friday upheld a decision by the Central Election Commission (CEC) to not allow former Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili to register as a candidate for the presidential election.
Zourabichvili’s appeal against the CEC’s decision was supported by lawyers for Georgian Young Lawyer’s Association (GYLA), who think that the commission didn’t have legal basis for refusing to let Zourabichvili register.
CEC explained that the Georgian constitution prohibits a person with dual citizens from becoming president. However, GYLA lawyers say that dual citizenship shouldn’t be an obstacle for her registering and participating in the election. If she were to win, she could then renounce her French citizenship and thus avoid violating the constitution.
Zourabichvili, who is a Georgian and French citizen, said she thinks that court’s decision will remain ‘another black stain on Georgian democracy.’
“Georgia doesn’t have independent courts and courts make political decisions and politically prohibits a person, who has certain chances, from becoming a candidate,” she said after the hearing.
She now plans to appeal Tbilisi City Court’s decision to the Appeals Court.
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