The ruling GDDG party won runoff elections in all six single-mandate districts and took a 14 seat majority in the Supreme Council of Adjara Autonomous Republic.
According to the preliminary results of second round runoffs held in six single-mandate constituencies on October 30, GDDG candidates are leading the races convincingly over UNM candidates.
GDDG candidates, who won seats in the 21-member Supreme Council of Adjara as a result of second round runoffs are: Vakhtang Tsuladze (66.63%), Ilia Verdzadze (69.87%) and Nugzar Surmanidze (71.21%) in Batumi districts No.68, No.69 and No.70, respectively; Giorgi Romanidze (71.51%) in Kobuleti district No.71; Merab Karanadze (72.19%) in Khelvachauri district No.72; Khvicha Sharashidze (71.44%) in district No.73 covering Khulo, Shuakhevi and Keda.
Like nationwide electoral system, Adjara’s elections are also held under the mixed system – 15 seats in Autonomous Republic’s Supreme Council are allocated proportionally under the party-list contest and 6 members of the local parliament are elected in the Autonomous Republic’s six single-member districts. Majoritarian races in all six single-mandate districts of Adjara went into the second round as no candidate received more than half of the votes in the first round.
Four parties cleared a 5% threshold, required for winning seats in the Supreme Council of Adjara under the proportional, party-list system. They are: GDDG (45.13%) – 8 seats; UNM – 29.62% – 5 seats; Nino Burjanadze’s Democratic Movement (5.89%) – 1 seat; and Alliance of Patriots of Georgia (5.7%) – 1 seat.
Elections of Adjara’s local legislative body were held simultaneously with the parliamentary vote on October 8. Runoff elections were held on October 30.
After final vote tallies of elections are summarized, the President has to convene the first session of the Supreme Council of Adjara and nominate within 10 days after the first session new head of the local government in Adjara after consultations with political groups in the Supreme Council; the President can only name a candidate if the nomination has the support of the central government.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)