CEC final result: Tbilisi Mayoral race set for runoff

The election authority has announced a second round of voting is needed to establish the new Mayor of Tbilisi.

Final results by the Central Election Commission (CEC) revealed a runoff was needed in the capital city between the ruling Georgian Dream coalition Tbilisi Mayoral candidate Davit Narmania and opposition candidate from United National Movement (UNM) Nika Melia.

Latest figures revealed Narmania gained the highest number of votes (46.09 percent) in the initial election and hr has to challenge Melia in the runoff, who gained 27.97 percent of votes in the June 15 election.

According to local law a candidate has to clear the 50 percent threshold to win outright without a second round of voting being needed.

Meanwhile, final results saw ruling Georgian Dream coalition rank ahead of the UNM party for the party-list of the City Council, proportional contest.

The ruling Georgian Dream coalition (GD) is likely to win the majority of the seats in the 50-seat City Council, Sakrebulo, in Georgia’s capital city.

In Tbilisi’s Sakrebulo, half of the seats are distributed through party-list candidates and the remaining 25 seats are allocated to winners in the capital city’s 25 single-mandate constituencies.

GD coalition candidates won in 24 districts out of 25 single-mandate constituencies across Tbilisi, stated election authorities.

This meant the GD coalition will have 13 of 25 available seats for the party-list, proportional representation, while UNM will have seven seats. Nino Burjanadze’s coalition will have three seats and the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia will have two seats, the latest data claimed.

Similarly, a runoff election appears to be needed in seven of Georgia’s 11 cities.