Election Day: polling stations open for 3.5 million voters in Georgia to elect 10th national legislature
Unlike previous elections, the parties which will receive at least one per cent of total votes will be allowed into parliament. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Georgians are heading to the polls today to elect the country’s 10th national legislature since independence from the Soviet Union back in 1991.
All polling stations around the country have been opened without any problems, the Georgian Central Election Commission has stated earlier today.
For the first time, the elections will be held per a mixed electoral system, with 120 members of parliament (MP) to be elected via party lists and the remaining 30 running in single-member majoritarian districts.
An election bloc or party which receives less than 40.54 per cent of votes (less than 76 seats in the 150-member parliament) in the proportional elections will not be able to form a government.
Unlike previous elections, the parties which will receive at least one per cent of total votes will be allowed into parliament.
- 3, 657 polling stations had been prepared to receive voters amid the pandemic, as well as 11 stations established for exceptional cases and 127 special stations for the voters in hospitals and isolation (quarantine, self-isolation).
- 52 Polling stations have been opened abroad in 38 foreign states (two of the 52 in Afghanistan).
- 3, 526, 023 voters are on voter lists, including 14,170 voters registered abroad.
- 80, 819 representatives of political parties and election blocs will monitor the elections, as well as 46,981 representatives of 132 local observer organisations and 910 observers from five election administrations, 20 embassies, and 23 international organisations.
- 5, 971 representatives of 118 media outlets will cover the electoral process.
- 1,134 electoral precincts are adapted for wheelchair users.
Any interested individual will be able to observe the process of summarising preliminary election results at the CEC using Internet live streaming.
The latter is ensured by using 360-degree technology and is available at the CEC Facebook page, YouTube, and official CEC website.
The ruling Georgian Dream party chairperson Bidzina Ivanishvili has stated that he has voted for the country’s development, stability, peace and Georgia’s European future.
Opposition political parties have agreed not to form a coalition government with the ruling Georgian Dream party after the parliamentary elections tomorrow if the ruling party receives less than 40 per cent of votes in the proportional elections. Per the constitutional amendments earlier this year none of parties will be able to form the government alone if they receive less than 40 per cent of votes in the proportional elections.
On election day the European diplomatic watch will assemble no less than 70 teams and visit some 1000 polling stations on election day throughout the country, said EU ambassador Carl Hartzell.
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jim Risch and Senator Jeanne Shaheen have made a joint statement ahead of the October 31 parliamentary elections in Georgia, noting the importance for all political parties in the country to respect and abide by international standards for a free and fair electoral process.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has cast her vote in central Tbilisi earlier today, stating that ‘today, we all vote to build a dream country - a democratic, European state.’
Leader of the European Georgia opposition party David Bakradze has cast his ballot in today’s parliamentary elections, stating that he expects ‘big changes.’
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia cast his vote earlier today in Tbilisi, stating he ‘voted for the future as no one can imagine a return to the past.’
Georgia is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on Saturday, amid the coronavirus pandemic, with citizens going to the polls to elect the country’s 10th national legislature since independence from the Soviet Union back in 1991. For the first time, the elections will be held per a mixed electoral system, with 120 members of parliament (MP) to be elected via party lists and the remaining 30 running in single-member majoritarian districts.
Four of eight opposition parties which entered parliament in the October 31 parliamentary elections may create a coalition without the United National Movement opposition party.