By Trend
A total of 1,815,776 people (51.92 per cent of eligible voters) have cast ballots in the municipal elections as of 8 p.m. today, Trend reports citing Agenda.ge.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairperson Giorgi Kalandarishvili thanked everyone for their participation in the elections. He said after the polling stations closed at 8 p.m. throughout the country ‘the important election procedure’ of vote counting is now underway.
Noting that the elections were held mainly in 'peaceful environment', the CEC spokesperson Natia Ioseliani said 366 complaints have been filed at the election commissions concerning the procedural violations.
Georgia’s Central Election Commission is expected to provide official preliminary results within 7-8 hours after the end of vote, due to time required for counting three types of ballot papers (single-mandate, proportional and mayoral) in 3,664 precincts across the country.
Municipal elections are held in Georgia per a mixed electoral system. Voters have to fill three ballot papers: the first ballot paper is for mayoral candidates (which are elected per a 50+1 system. The winner is the candidate who will receive at least 51 per cent of votes, otherwise a second round of elections will be held).
The second ballot paper is for majoritarian candidates in city assemblies (voters should circle a desired majoritarian candidate on the list). The third ballot paper is for parties - the more votes a party receives in the elections, more members it will have in city assemblies.
The final results of October 2 municipal elections will be available at results.cec.gov.ge. However, the three exit polls commissioned by Imedi TV, Mtavari Arkhi and Formula TV as of 6 p.m. say that the ruling Georgian Dream party received between 47-38% in municipal proportional elections.
