**GYLA Files Complaint with European Court Over Voting Secrecy Violations**
The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights over the mass violation of voting secrecy during the 2024 parliamentary elections.
According to GYLA, the complaint highlights violations under Article 3 of the First Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. This article requires state parties to hold free elections by secret ballot at reasonable intervals.
GYLA chair Nona Kurdovanidze stated that the complaint has already been registered with the European Court. She pointed out that the electoral administration’s failure to properly fulfill its duties led to a mass violation of voting secrecy and the right to an effective remedy for electoral disputes.
**GYLA Raised Concerns Before Elections**
Before the 2024 parliamentary elections, GYLA identified risks to voting secrecy during training meetings held by the Central Election Commission (CEC). GYLA raised concerns with the CEC, urging them to take measures to address the issue. However, the CEC failed to prevent colored circle marks from appearing on the back of ballots.
GYLA used internal dispute mechanisms to request the annulment of results from 2263 polling stations in 73 districts where elections were conducted using technology. They argued that voting secrecy was violated on a large scale during the voting process, which undermines the constitutional electoral rights of Georgian citizens.
**Court Decisions**
At the national level, only one court accepted GYLA’s complaint. The Tetritskaro District Court found visible marker traces on ballots from villages in Tsalka and Tetritskaro. Judge Vladimir Khuchua also conducted an experiment that confirmed a clear violation of voting secrecy when ballots were inserted into vote-counting machines.
However, the Tbilisi Court of Appeals later annulled the decision of the Tetritskaro court. GYLA’s complaint to the European Court of Human Rights is precedent-setting and provides the opportunity for the court to assess both the systematic violation of voting secrecy during the October 26, 2024 elections and the fairness of the system for addressing election-related complaints.
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