An incident took place near the Marneuli District Election Commission between supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream and opposition United National Movement (UNM) parties today.
The commission chairman said a group of people tried to break into the commission building and 'obstruct their work', after which one of the commission members was physically assaulted.
As reported, the UNM majoritarian candidate MP Azer Suleimanov and head of the Georgian Dream's Marneuli office had a verbal confrontation.
Suleimanov said that the election commission in Marneuli held its first meeting and the chairmen of the precincts, as well as the deputies, were 'silently elected' from them yesterday and this is what the UNM supporters were protesting today.
The UNM and the Georgian Dream accuse each other of provoking the incident.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has started an investigation into the incident.
Georgian Central Election Commission condemned the facts of 'violence and attempts to put pressure on the District Election Commission'.
The statement published by the commission reads that the allegations that the District Election Commission did not inform the members of the precinct election commissions appointed by the UNM about the holding of the first sessions 'are baseless and are a lie'.
This is an attack on a person employed by the Marneuli District Election Commission, who asked the people there to explain why they were filming him without permission, in response to which he was physically abused; we are also facing an attempt by unauthorised persons to invade the District Election Commission", reads the statement.
Georgian Central Election Commission calls on observers and international organisations to 'closely monitor the actions of some of the parties' involved in the election, which is aimed at 'discrediting the election administration, damaging the entire election process, and attempting to create a tense pre-election background'.
Meanwhile, another incident took place in Gldanula district of Tbilisi, again between members of the Georgian Dream and the UNM after the members of the Georgian Dream raised the flags of the party instead of a state flag. Members of the UNM said that the Georgian Dream party members 'force people' to look at their flags and party symbols.