Election runoff:
Voters visit polling stations with fingers already inked

A number of cases has been reported where voters went to a polling station today with their fingers already inked with an election stain.

Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) said a handful of people arrived at several polling stations in Tbilisi’s Isani and Mtatsminda districts, also in western towns of Poti and Batumi, with their fingers already inked - indicating they had already voted.

Electoral ink is a semi-permanent ink or dye that is applied to the forefinger of voters during elections to prevent electoral fraud such as double voting. Photo by Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Some of the affected voters claimed they could still have some ink on their hands from the initial Parliamentary Election vote that took place on October 8, however the CEC said this was impossible and that the election ink couldn’t last for three weeks on their skin.

Other voters said they had eaten tangerines before going to vote and the citrus liquid could have similar effect as the electoral ink stain.

To avoid election fraud and the possibility of these people double voting, election commission members did not let those people with existing ink marks to vote in today's runoff election.

Electoral ink is a semi-permanent ink or dye that is applied to the forefinger of voters during elections in order to prevent electoral fraud such as double voting. Photo by Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Today Georgian citizens are voting to elect members of Parliament. Today is the second round of the October 8 elections.

• See all updated results of the First and Second Rounds of Parliamentary Elections on Agenda.ge’s Interactive Map