Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Georgia's former Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili has applied to the Tbilisi City Court to appeal the decision of the Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC), who has refused to register her as a candidate for the presidential election because of her dual citizenship.

Zourabichvili thinks that the decision of the CEC is violation of the Constitution, as the law prohibits citizen with dual citizenship to hold the presidency, but not the registration of candidates.

"I demand that the CEC do not interpret the Constitution, but to take a clear decision based on it," she said. "I do not need concessions, I need the enforcement of the law."

Zourabichvili said that she is ready to renounce dual citizenship, if she wins the presidential election.

The 2013 presidential election in Georgia is scheduled for October. This will be the 6th presidential election after the country's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The last one, held on January 5, 2008, resulted in the election of Mikheil Saakashvili for his second and final presidential term.

Georgia's Central Election Commission has already registered 50 candidates for presidency. Ruling Georgian Dream coalition's representative Giorgi Margvelashvili, former ruling United National Movement's candidate Davit Bakradze, Labour Party's candidate Shalva Natelashvili, Christian-Democratic Movement's representative Giorgi Targamadze and others have already applied for registration in the Central Election Commission.

Salome Zourabichvili is a French-born Georgian politician, former Georgian Foreign Minister and a former diplomat in the French service from 2004 to 2005. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili appointed her as Foreign Minister in his new government in 2004, but she was sacked by Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli after a series of disputes with members of Parliament in October, 2005. She had also been heavily criticized by a number of Georgian ambassadors.

In January 2006 she established new political party Georgia's Way in Tbilisi.

In addition to the Georgian citizenship, Zourabichvili also has a French citizenship.