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Education International
Education International

Legal dispute in Georgia over ESFTUG election results ended after four years

published 14 July 2014 updated 15 July 2014

On 11 July 2014, a judicial decision by the Appeals Court in Tbilisi has finally resolved the legal battle over the legitimacy of the election of Maia Kobakhidze, President of the Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia (ESFTUG).

The complainants had requested to cancel the results of the teacher union’s Extraordinary National Congress in 2010. The Court now judged in favour of the defending party. It has taken almost four years until the Court ruled on the case “Martoleki and others against the Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia (ESFTUG)”.

In short, the plaintiffs alleged that an insufficient number of delegates had been present during the vote. The evidence provided by the group of plaintiffs was not adequate to subsequently deny the legitimacy of the election results. According to ESFTUG, the legal arguments presented by the plaintiffs did not convince the Court either.

The judgement was made in due time before ESFTUG’s next National Congress which will be held on 25 October of this year.