Polls Open in Georgia’s Municipal Elections

Civil.ge

3 years ago

3,664 polling stations opened at 08:00 on October 2 for Georgia’s municipal elections and will close at 20:00.

3,497,345 Georgian citizens are eligible to vote in the elections, including 1,002,900 in Tbilisi, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC).

Voters will be casting ballots to elect mayors in 64 municipalities, including five self-governing cities, as well as 2,068 members of local self-governing councils (Sakrebulo), both through proportional and majoritarian votes, across Georgia.

In Tbilisi, 16 candidates have joined the mayoral race, while 24 candidates are running for the mayor’s office in four other self-governing cities and 241 more candidates in all remaining 59 municipalities.

43 political parties, 20,827 proportional/party-list candidates, and 2,769 majoritarian candidates have registered at the CEC.

9 polling stations have been established for voting at the penitentiary facilities, while 73 special polling stations are available for voters who are hospitalized, quarantined, or self-isolated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The self-isolating voters had the possibility to apply to CEC for a service of special movable ballot-boxes on September 25-27.

According to the CEC, the elections are monitored by 21,483 representatives of election subjects (parties), 31,310 observers from 100 local watchdogs, and 1,024 observers from 52 international missions.

Candidates in mayoral races will need to get more than 50% of valid votes to win in the first round or will face the runoffs. Similarly, majoritarian candidates need to receive more than 40% of votes to be declared winners in the first round, for the first time in municipal elections. Also, parties will need at least 2.5% of votes to get Sakrebulo seats in Tbilisi and 3,0% in the rest of Georgia.

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