Preliminary results: Ruling party candidates leading in by-elections

The ruling Georgian Dream party candidates are leading in the May 19 by-elections in the majority of election precincts.

Georgian Parliamentary Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze announced the results of some of the election districts late on Sunday.

Kobakhidze said that although vote counting is still underway, the Georgian Dream candidates who ran for mayors in all the five municipalities of Marneuli, Zestaponi, Chiatura, Zugdidi and Khulo have won the race.

The final voter turnout at Mtatsminda district was 15,049, which is 34.27 percent of eligible voters.  Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

He said the ruling party candidate Vladimer (Lado) Kakhadze is also leading in Mtatsminda district of Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi, but the race will probably go into a runoff with the united oppositional candidate Shalva Shavgulidze competing for the parliamentary seat.

While Shavgulidze is getting ready for the second round, Sandra Roelofs, the wife of ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, who ran for Zugdidi mayor, said the elections were falsified.

Roelofs, who was confident in her victory in Zugdidi in the first round, announced that she may lead protest rallies all around the country and "fight till the end".

173,361 voters, accounting for 43.1 percent of the total number of voters, cast their ballots ion May 19. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Polling stations closed at 8 p.m. at 410 polling stations in Georgia where voters cast ballots for a member of parliament, five mayors and members of eight city councils (Sakrebulo) across the country. 

The Central Election Commission (CEC) Spokesperson Ana Mikeladze summed up the Election Day, saying the May 19 by-elections were held in a “mainly calm environment” and voters had the opportunity to express their will “freely”.

Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze also announced recently that by-elections were held in a democratic and free environment. Photo: PM's press office

The CEC has started uploading final results at its special webpage at www.results.cec.gov.ge.

Votes are counted electronically at eight polling stations of Tkibuli and Tskaltubo in western Georgia.