Georgian MFA summons Baltic ambassadors over sanctions on politicians

The Georgian Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia after sanctions were imposed on Georgian politicians.

The Baltic diplomats refused to provide official comments to the media before being summoned to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, Caliber.Az reports, citing Georgian media.

On December 2, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry published a list of Georgian officials who were subject to sanctions.

Among those targeted were the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, and Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri, both of whom were sanctioned for "human rights violations."

Earlier, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze announced that 13 Georgian citizens had been added to the persona non grata list. It was specified that the entry ban would be imposed indefinitely.

Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court of Georgia rejected the lawsuits filed by President Salome Zourabichvili and opposition politicians, who had demanded the annulment of the October 26 parliamentary elections. This was confirmed in a release from the court.

"Not to accept for consideration on the merits of constitutional lawsuits #1848 (the claim of the president) and #1849 (the claim of the opposition)," the release stated. "The verdict is final and not subject to appeal or review."

The court explained that one of the main arguments presented by Zourabichvili and the opposition — that election fraud occurred — could not be considered a violation of the constitution. The issue centred on the shine of the ballot papers on the reverse side after voters marked their choices with markers. Despite the ballots being placed in envelopes, Zourabichvili, the opposition, and several NGOs argued that the secrecy of the vote was compromised, as it was visible from the back whether a person voted for the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party, which was listed as number 41 on the ballot.

"The plaintiffs are not challenging in court the violations based on the disputed norms, but the inappropriate choice of ballot papers and markers by the Central Election Commission. The constitutional assessment of the said actions is beyond the scope of the verification of constitutional norms," the court explained.

The parliamentary elections were held in Georgia on October 26. According to the final data from the Central Election Commission (CEC), the ruling party Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia won 53.93% of the vote, securing 89 mandates out of 150 in the legislative body. Opposition parties Coalition for Change (11.03% of votes, 19 mandates), Unity - National Movement (10.17% of votes, 16 mandates), Strong Georgia (8.81% of votes, 14 mandates), and Gakharia for Georgia (7.78% of votes, 12 mandates) all passed the 5% threshold. All opposition parties that entered parliament, as well as President Zourabichvili, refused to recognize the election results.

Zourabichvili, along with 30 opposition politicians, filed lawsuits with the Constitutional Court seeking to declare the election results unconstitutional. The court merged the two lawsuits into a single case.

By Tamilla Hasanova