THE GEORGIAN LABOUR PARTY v. GEORGIA JUDGMENT
3
7. A hearing on the merits took place in public in the Human Rights
Building, Strasbourg, on 4 September 2007 (Rule 59 § 3 of the Rules of
Court).
There appeared before the Court:
(a) for the Government
Mr D. TOMADZE,
Agent,
Mr G. CHALAGASHVILI, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission,
Mr A. ANASASHVILI, Legal Officer at the Central Electoral Commission;
(b) for the applicant party
Ms J. RINCEANU,
Counsel,
Mr SH. NATELASHVILI,
Chairman of the Georgian Labour Party,
Mr M. BEKOV,
Mrs D. CHADADZE-POLLMAN,
Advisers.
The Court heard addresses by Mr D. Tomadze, Mr G. Chalagashvili,
Mr A. Anasashvili and Ms J. Rinceanu.
8. The applicant party filed its claims for just satisfaction at the hearing.
On 23 October 2007 the Government submitted their comments on those
claims.
9. On 1 February 2008 the Court changed the composition of its
Sections, but the present case was retained by the Former Second Section.
THE FACTS
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE
10. The applicant party is a political party.
A. The Rose Revolution
11. On 20 November 2003 the Central Electoral Commission (“the
CEC”) announced the final results of the votes in the regularly scheduled
parliamentary election of 2 November 2003, according to which seven
parties had cleared the 7% legal threshold required by Article 105 § 6 of the
Electoral Code (“the EC”, see paragraph 44 below). The opposition party,
the Saakashvili-National Movement, took third place with 18.04% of the
vote (giving them 32 seats in Parliament), followed by the applicant party
with 12.04% of the vote (20 seats) and the United Democrats, a coalition led