On the 5th and the 6th of November the Kutaisi Appeals Court heard and declined the complaints of the representatives of the My Vote Coalition, including Transparency International Georgia, by which we contested the decisions of the Kutaisi, Batumi, Kobuleti, Zugdidi, Poti and Senaki courts that had rejected our requests to repeal the election results of 66 precincts in West Georgia and to impose disciplinary/administrative penalties on responsible PEC commissioners.
The appeals were based on the violation of secrecy of voting, harassment of observers, the commissioners’ denial to register the observers’ complaints, handing out multiple ballot papers to the same voters, multiple voting, violations of inking procedures, voting instead of another person by using the latter’s ID card or personal ID number, presence of unauthorized persons at polling stations, etc.
The complaints were combined in two major cases. Both were considered by a panel which included Judge Shota Siradze, a former Khobi municipal assembly member from Georgian Dream and the father of Vazha Siradze, the Director of the Patrol Police of the Ministry of the Interior. The court declined our requests for the withdrawal of Judge Siradze from the cases.