The decision was made by Judge Vladimir Khuchua. According to him, the court confirmed that during the voting process, the secrecy of the voters' will was violated.
The proceedings were initiated by the Young Lawyers Association of Georgia (YLAG), as reported by Sova news. The court was presented with ballots marked with a marker in the voting area.
Khuchua acknowledged that even on an inverted ballot, the marker "is revealed and noticeable." After the document was sent to the machine for electronic vote counting, a person standing nearby could see for whom the vote was cast.
"The judge requested the vote counting machine, the ballot, the marker, and the envelope. A technical examination was conducted during the court session, which established that the choice made by the voter is visible on the back of the ballot when it is sent to the electronic vote counting machine," the YLAG statement said.
According to the organization's assessment, such a ruling by the judge "creates a precedent" in the direction of protecting the voter's right to vote in secrecy.