Election Day: Second round held in 6 municipalities

Today is the second round of municipal elections in Georgia, when the local population is voting in those six districts where no candidate cleared the 50 percent threshold during the first vote on October 21.

The polling stations opened at 8 am this morning for about 328,272 eligible voters in Kutaisi, Ozurgeti, and Martvili in western Georgia, and Kazbegi, Khashuri, and Borjomi in eastern Georgia where the election runoff takes place.

The candidates who run in the second round of the elections are:

Kutaisi

• Giorgi Chigvaria – Georgian Dream
• Grigol Vashadze – United National Movement

Ozurgeti

• Beglar Sioridze – Georgian Dream
• Konstantine Sharashenidze – independent candidate

Martvili

• Aleksandre Grigalava – Georgian Dream
• Mamuka Danelia – United National Movement

Kazbegi

• Aleksandre Zagashvili – Georgian Dream
• Sandro Kamarauli – Democratic Movement – Free Georgia

Khashuri

• Giorgi Guraspashvili – Georgian Dream
• Ramaz Nozadze – independent candidate

Borjomi

• Levan Lipartia – Georgian Dream
• Zaza Chachanidze – Alliance of Patriots

The opposition United National Movement refused to participate in the runoff elections but according to the Georgian election code, their candidates will still be written in election ballots.

Georgia hosts second round of municipal elections today. Photo by Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

According to the Central Election Commission (CEC) a great deal of people are observing to make sure the voting process goes smoothly throughout the day, including:

• 2,143 representatives of political parties
• 18,149 representatives of local observing organisations
• 654 representatives of international organisations
• 4,688 representatives of media outlets.

All the 317 polling stations will close at exactly 8 pm and the process of counting votes will begin immediately. The final results will be available online at www.results.cec.gov.ge