Polls Close, Vote Count Underway

Vote count is underway across the country as 410 polling stations closed at 8pm for Georgia’s by-elections.

173,361 voters cast ballot in the elections, accounting for 43.1% of the total number of voters, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC). There were a total of 402,091 eligible voters.

Turnout by districts

According to the CEC, the highest voter turnout in the mayoral elections was reported in Khulo and Zestaponi, where 58.21% and 47.03% of voters, respectively, cast their ballots as of 8pm.

They are followed by Zugdidi and Chiatura with 46.88% and 43.26%, respectively. The lowest voter turnout was reported in Marneuli – 35.82%.

Voter turnout in the Parliamentary by-elections in Mtatsminda constituency stood at 34.27%.

In the Sakrebulo by-elections, the highest voter turnout was recorded in Sagarejo, where 74.56% of voters cast their ballots as of 8pm. The lowest voter turnout was recorded in Tkibuli – 39.85%.

CEC, party assessments

The CEC said the voting process was held in a calm and free environment, with several minor incidents outside polling stations.

Similar assessments have been touted by the Georgian Dream leaders, who said elections were held without major violations. They also accused the opposition of staging provocations and stirring up tensions throughout the day.

The United Opposition denied this and claimed the process was “far from democratic standards.” They also accused the ruling party of vote buying and voter intimidation, claiming the GD was trying to win through “a special operation.”

The election administration said a total of 89 complaints have been submitted to district election commissions, with 44 in Zugdidi and 21 in Marneuli.

The CEC will upload the final vote tallies to a special website www.results.cec.gov.ge.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)