Election commission receives 289 complaints on voting, most of them "procedural"
The Central Election Commission said most of the complaints related to procedural violations at stations. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
Tweet 
Share
Election commissions across Georgia have received 289 complaints about polling violations, the Central Election Commission said following the closure of stations, with most of the formal objections relating to "procedural" issues.
Spokesperson Ana Mikeladze unveiled preliminary data on written complaints as the election body was busy counting bulletins of the parliamentary voting on the night between Saturday to Sunday.
Mikeladze said in an update from the CEC the complaints referred to issues such as incorrect filling out of control sheets - papers added to bulletin boxes after the first vote is cast at each station and bearing information on time of the vote and citizen data.
Other objections related to violations of marking procedures at polling stations, used for ensuring only one vote for each eligible citizen.
The voting process closed at most stations at 8pm local time, with the CEC announcing it would take the election body five to seven hours after the closure to release initial results.
A polling station election commission from a Marneuli Municipality village in southern Georgia has reported its summary protocol paper missing after the closure of voting at the location.
The Central Election Commission of Georgia, the election body in the country, is in the process of counting votes cast by eligible citizens in the parliamentary elections of October 31.
Opposition Mtavari Arkhi TV Director NIka Gvaramia said after the publication of its IPSOS exit poll results that the ruling Georgian Dream party is losing in the parliamentary elections, this is why the Central Election Commission (CEC) is not publishing the initial results of the voting.
Rustavi 2 TV commissioned exit poll results show that as of 8 p.m. the ruling Georgian Dream party received 51.36% of support in the proportional part of the elections, followed by the opposition United National Movement with 25.38%
Polling stations closed in Georgia at 20:00, by which time 1,970,540 Georgian voters had cast their ballots in the Georgian parliamentary elections, says the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says that it has won the elections as all exit polls released by four different TV channels have put their vote count between 41-55 %.
The Central Election Commission will announce the first official results of the parliamentary elections five to seven hours after polling stations close across the country, the body has announced. A briefing for the media at the CEC said the initial data would be made available after "all procedures" related to counting bulletins of the polling. Election body spokesperson Ana Mikeladze said practice showed between five and seven hours required for the initial count.
Georgian Dream Executive Secretary Irakli Kobakhidze has told local media at least a dozen election districts across the country are expected to go into runoff after the Saturday voting of parliamentary elections.
Unanimous in their demands for repeat elections, the parties which have overcame the mandatory 1% threshold, including the United National Movement, Euroepan Georgia, Strategy Aghmashenebeli, Lelo for Georgia, Labour Party and Girchi, accuse the CEC of falsifying elections on behalf of the ruling party.