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Article 77
 

Term and procedure for appeal


1. Violation of the electoral legislation of Georgia may be appealed to the respective election commission. The decision of an election commission may be appealed only to a higher election commission or to the court under the procedure and within the time frames as defined in this Law, unless otherwise provided for hereby.


2. A decision of a PEC/the head of a PEC may be appealed to a respective DEC within 2 calendar days after the decision is made. The DEC shall review the appeal within 2 calendar days. The decision of the DEC may be appealed to a respective district/city court within 2 calendar days. The district/city court shall consider the appeal within 2 calendar days. The decision of the district/city court may be appealed to the Court of Appeals within 1 calendar day after the decision is made. The Court of Appeals shall review the appeal within 1 calendar day. The decision of the Court of Appeals shall be final and may not be appealed.


3. If a DEC decision is appealed to the CEC based on the appeal of a PEC decision, an application/complaint shall not be considered.


4. Decisions of DEC/DEC head officers may be appealed to the CEC within one calendar day after decisions are made. The CEC shall examine the appeal within one calendar day. The decision of the CEC may be appealed to the Tbilisi City Court within one calendar day after its delivery. The Tbilisi City Court shall examine the appeal within two calendar days. The decision of the Tbilisi City Court may be appealed to the Court of Appeals within one calendar day after the decision is delivered. The Court of Appeals shall deliver its decision within one calendar day after filing the appeal. The decision of the Court of Appeals shall be final and may not subject to appeal.


5. A decision of the CEC/CEC head officers may be appealed to the Tbilisi City Court within two calendar days after the decision is delivered. The Tbilisi City Court shall examine the appeal within two calendar days. The decision of the Tbilisi City Court may be appealed to the Court of Appeals within two calendar days after the decision is delivered. The Court of Appeals shall deliver its decision within two calendar days after filing the appeal. The decision of the Court of Appeals shall be final and may not subject to appeal.


51. (Deleted – 12.6.2015, No 3695).


52. During the election/referendum period, decisions of the CEC and/or its tender commissions may be appealed within 2 calendar days after they are made to the state procurement-related Disputes Resolution Board of the State Procurement Agency, which will consider a complaint and will make an appropriate decision within 2 calendar days after the complaint is received. Decisions of the Dispute Resolution Board regarding the actions/decisions of the CEC and/or its tender commissions may be appealed to Tbilisi City Court within 2 calendar days after the decisions are made. Tbilisi City Court shall consider a claim and make an appropriate decision within 2 calendar days. The decision of Tbilisi City Court may be appealed to the Court of Appeals within 2 calendar days after the decision is made. The Court of Appeals shall consider a claim within 1 calendar day after it is received. The decision of the Court of Appeals shall be final and may not be appealed.


6. If a lawsuit/complaint is lodged with the court, the court shall immediately inform a DEC/CEC about receipt of the lawsuit/complaint and about the decision once it is delivered. The decision of the District/City Court shall be given to parties before 12:00 on the following day.


7. If a party fails to appear at the court hearing, the court shall deliver its decision based on an inquiry into case materials and according to the provisions of Articles 4, 17, and 19 of the Administrative Procedures Code of Georgia.


8. An application/lawsuit/complaint shall be considered to be lodged with an election commission/court from the moment it is registered with the respective election commission/court.


9. Lodging of an application/lawsuit/complaint with the election commission/court shall not suspend the validity of the appealed decision.


10. It is prohibited to extend time frames for appeal and dispute resolution as determined in this article, unless otherwise defined by this Law.


101) An application/complaint shall be dismissed if the time limit and procedure for submitting it has been violated.


11. An application/lawsuit/complaint, as referred to in Article 78 of this Law, submitted to the election commission/court concerning election disputes by the persons other than those specified in the same Article, shall not be considered.


12. The legislation of Georgia shall determine the time frames and procedures for appealing election commission decisions and violations of the electoral legislation of Georgia. The legislation of Georgia shall also define the time frame for examining an application/lawsuit/complaint and delivering a decision, as well as the group of claimants, unless otherwise defined by this Law.


13. The time frames and procedures for appealing violations of electoral legislation during elections held within the competence of the Supreme Election Commission of an Autonomous Republic shall be determined under the procedure defined by the legislation of the Autonomous Republic.


14. Applicants/observer organisations/electoral subjects shall be informed about the time and place of consideration of the complaint by an election commission according to the requirements defined by this Law.


15. If an applicant is an observer organisation or its representative registered with an election commission, the respective observer or the observer organisation registered with the election commission shall be notified of the time and place of consideration of the complaint.


16. If the applicant is an electoral subject or its appointed representative, the appointed representative of the electoral subject, based on Article 42 of this Law, shall be notified of the time and place of the consideration of the complaint.


17. If the applicant is a member of an election commission, he/she shall be personally informed of the consideration of the complaint.


18. Parties shall be required to clearly specify the applicant’s contact number (home and/or cell phone numbers), as well as fax number and email address (if any) in the complaint.


19. Parties may be summoned to the consideration of a complaint either in writing or by telephone (including cell phone, text message), email, fax, or other technical means in order to meet the time frames for examination of complaints as defined by this Law. Summoning a party through technical means shall be confirmed by:


a) contacting the person at the telephone number specified thereby;


b) sending an e-mail, fax, or text message with acknowledgement of receipt through the relevant technical means. If such acknowledgement is received, the party shall be deemed to be summoned. The party shall also be deemed summoned if it is impossible to contact him/her through the technical means referred to in the complaint (if the cell phone, fax, computer is switched off, etc.).


191. Information about dismissing an application/complaint without prejudice shall be communicated to the party immediately upon issuance of the decree of the chairperson of an election commission, under the procedure established by paragraph 19 of this article.


20. When a party is summoned by any technical means, a report shall be drawn up and attached to the complaint submitted at a commission session.


21. The CEC report shall be drawn up and signed by an officer and the head of Legal Department of the CEC.


22. A report in a lower election commission shall be drawn up by one of the commission members by order of the commission chairperson, and shall be signed by that member and the chairperson of the commission.


23. The Electoral Administration of Georgia shall be obliged to inform a party of the time and place of examination of a case not later than three hours before the examination commences.


24. The form of a report shall be approved by the CEC ordinance.


25. The failure of a party to appear shall not be the grounds for postponing the consideration of a complaint.


26. A party attending the election commission session shall be provided, if required, before the session starts, with photocopies of investigation materials related the review of the complaint.


27. A party shall have the right to participate in the process of consideration of a complaint as defined in the electoral legislation of Georgia.


28. A decision whether or not to consider a complaint shall be made based on an accurate inquiry into and study of the evidence submitted by the parties and the materials obtained by the Electoral Administration of Georgia on its own initiative.


29. A party participating in the process of consideration of a complaint, upon request, shall be provided with the decision about the complaint (except for minutes of a commission session) not later than 12:00 of the day following adoption of the decision, taking into account the time frames for drawing up the respective documents as defined in the legislation of Georgia.


30. A written commission decision shall be sent to a party who has failed to appear at the consideration of a complaint, notwithstanding that he/she has been summoned.


31. If a party fails to appear at a commission session during consideration of a complaint, the date of serving a written document of delivered decision upon that party shall not be basis for starting an appeal period for the commission decision.


32. An election commission shall be obliged to specify in its decision the term and place (name and address of an institution) to which the decision may be appealed.


33. Courts shall immediately communicate information to the CEC about claims/complaints filed with common courts with respect to electoral disputes. In addition, a respective court shall forward to the CEC the ruling, concerning the case to be considered, about fixing a session and the involvement of third persons. Upon receiving the ruling, the CEC shall immediately post it on its webpage. The ruling shall be considered delivered to the third persons immediately after passing 3 hours from its publication on the CEC webpage, and the third persons shall be considered summoned to appear in court.


Organic Law of Georgia No 6605 of 29 June 2012 – website, 16.7.2012


Organic Law of Georgia No 2093 of 7 March 2014 – website, 14.3.2014


Organic Law of Georgia No 3695 of 12 June 2015 – website, 15.6.2015


Organic Law of Georgia No 1274 of 26 July 2017 – website, 29.7.2017


Organic Law of Georgia No 3269 of 21 July 2018 – website, 27.7.2018