Second round of municipal elections: Polls closed, votes being counted

Voting for the second round of municipal elections has finished in six municipalities of Georgia. The process of counting votes and compiling results is now underway.

All the 317 polling stations closed at exactly 8pm this evening 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.

The final results of voting will be available online at www.results.cec.gov.ge