Georgia’s Constitutional Court has dismissed a lawsuit submitted by Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili and opposition parties against the 26 October parliamentary elections.

There were two dissenting opinions — by judges Giorgi Kverenchkhiladze and  Teimuraz Tughushi — both of which were based on concerns regarding the availability of participation in the elections for voters living abroad. Tughushi’s dissenting opinion also focused on concerns related to the secrecy of voting.

The ruling is final and cannot be appealed, marking the seeming end — for now — of legal challenges to the legitimacy of the election results. 

The lawsuit was based on two separate allegations that the election violated fundamental civil rights — the lack of ballot secrecy and the inability for the government to ensure universal suffrage, as many diaspora Georgians faced barriers to cast their ballots.

Local observers and media organisations have documented widespread voter fraud and voter secrecy violations during the vote, and most of Georgia’s traditional Western allies have refrained from openly saying Georgian Dream won the election fairly. A little more than a month after the vote, the European Parliament overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution rejecting the legitimacy of the results, while also calling for a re-do of the vote under international oversight. 

[Read more: Editorial | Georgia’s rigged election]

Prior to the outbreak of mass protests that began after the announcement of Georgia’s EU U-turn on 28 November, Zourabichvili and the opposition focused on appeals to the Constitutional Court to help bolster claims of the illegitimacy of the vote. Nonetheless, as the court is widely thought to be under the control of the ruling Georgian Dream party, few thought it would come down on the side of the opposition. 

Tuesday’s decision was not a surprise as a result, but it was seen as a possible last-ditch attempt to address the political crisis in the courts, rather than in the street. 

Zourabichvili herself echoed this sentiment in a response to the decision later on Tuesday, saying the court failed in its chance to reestablish a sense of judicial legitimacy, which had deteriorated in the post-election period. 

According to Zourabichvili, the Constitutional Court had ‘passed a verdict on both the country and itself’, and that it would have taken three justices to ‘stand true to their conscience and their duty to the country.

She also accused the billionaire founder of Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, of occupying all branches of the government in Georgia except the presidency. 

‘There remains one constitutional, legitimate institution, and that is me, and this is a very great responsibility. On the other side, there is one person who has fully usurped power in this country — I do not use the word “government”, but “power” —  and has established a violent regime. That person is Ivanishvili’, Zourabichvili added.

A former Constitutional Court judge, Ketevan Eremadze, also responded to Tuesday’s decision, arguing that the Court had announced its own self-liquidation. 

‘It is very regrettable that the judges of the Constitutional Court did not understand what was written in the lawsuits. They didn't and couldn't hear, didn't see the voices of hundreds of thousands of people’, Eremadze said. ‘For me, the Constitutional Court has finished functioning today’.

Legal challenges and judicial manoeuvring 

The court’s decision was based on a series of separate lawsuits filed by 30 outgoing lawmakers from opposition parties after the election, and subsequently by Zourabichvili on 16 November. 

At the time, Zourabichvili admitted that she did not have faith in the independence of the court, but said there was a need to ‘at least try and test the system’. 

The Constitutional Court decided following Zourabichvili’s petition to merge the lawsuits into one complaint.

Ahead of the opening of the new parliament on 25 November, the court appeared to delay even considering the case, much less issue a ruling. 

The lack of a decision, one way or another, prompted Zourabichvili and other opposition leaders to call the new parliament unconstitutional. 

While the final issuing of a decision at the very least puts to rest questions of the court’s delay, it will likely do little to allay concerns about the legitimacy of the election.