Today is By-Election Day in Georgia

About 80,000 people in two of the country’s municipalities are being encouraged to take part in the 2015 by-elections in Georgia today.

The by-elections of the Parliament of Georgia are being held in Sagarejo municipality in eastern Georgia’s Kakheti region and Martvili municipality in western Georgia’s Samegrelo region.

The by-elections of Sakrebulo (local council) are being conducted in Dmanisi, Vani, Khobi and Sagarejo local election districts in different parts of Georgia.

Voting booths opened at 8am across the country and will remain open until 8pm tonight.

• The Parliamentary by-election in Sagarejo municipality was needed to fill a vacant seat in Parliament after Sagarejo majoritarian Member of Parliament (MP) Tinatin Khidasheli was appointed as the country’s Defence Minister in May.
• The majoritarian MP seat for Martvili fell vacant following the death of MP Nauli Janashia in March.
• The Sakrebulo by-elections in Dmanisi, Vani, Khobi and Sagarejo will fill vacant seats in local councils of these municipalities.

Five candidates were registered for the Parliament of Georgia by-elections in the Sagarejo election district and two candidates were registered in the Martvili election district.

In Sagarejo, the ruling coalition - Georgian Dream’s (GD) candidate Tamar Khidasheli of the Republican Party and co-party leader of the Alliance of Patriots Irma Inashvili were the main contenders in race, which also included three independent candidates.

In Martvili, only GD’s Soso Danelia and Alliance of Patriots’ Eter Medzvelia stood.

More than 700 representatives of 22 local observer organisations and 22 international observers of four international organisations observed the by-elections today. About 350 accredited media representatives covered the event.

According to Georgian legislation, a candidate who won more votes than the other candidates and gained more than 30 percent votes will be declared the outright winner of the race without requiring a second round runoff.