CEC: Snap elections underway in Gardabani region

Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) says snap elections for the Gamgebeli (Governor) in Georgia’s eastern Gardabani region is peacefully underway.

About 71,847 registered voters are expected to vote today at one of the 64 polling stations, many of whom are ethic Azerbaijani people. 

Only two candidates are participating in the race - one from the Georgian Dream coalition (GD) Gocha Jamarauli and the other from the opposition United National Movement (UNM) Besik Kakhabrishvili. 

The Gamgebeli post became vacant after the death of Gela Nioradze in late November last year.

GD member Nioradze won the post in the 2014 local elections with over 56 percent of votes.

Both of the new candidates are natives of Gardabani.

Jamarauli is a former footballer who played for the national football team from 1994 to 2004.  Kakhabrishvili ran for the same post in 2014 but was defeated by Nioradze after only gaining 27 percent of votes.

More than 650 representatives from local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are observing the elections, accompanied by eight foreign observers from the International Foundation of Election Systems (IFES). 

Sixteen media outlets and 116 journalists were accredited to broadcast from the election stations. 

The polling stations opened at 8am this morning and will close at 8pm tonight. After this the CEC will start to count the votes.