Tbilisi City Court not grants Zourabichvili’s appeal
By Nazrin Gadimova
Tbilisi City Court has refused Georgia's former Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili in her lawsuit against the Central Election Commission.
Earlier, Zourabichvili turned to the court to appeal the decision of the CEC, which has refused to register her as a candidate for the presidential election.
The refusal is motivated by the fact that she has dual citizenship. The Constitution of Georgia prohibits hold the office of President, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament for people with dual citizenship.
Zourabichvili called decision of the court political and noted that it interprets the Constitution incorrectly.
"The Constitution prohibits holding the post of president, but not registration of a candidate for the post," she said. "If I win the election, I would renounce the citizenship of France before the inauguration."
Zourabichvili said CEC and court decisions are unfounded and intends to appeal them in the Court of Appeal.
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.