Central Election Commission releases preliminary data after counting 28% of votes

The Central Election Commission (CEC) has released the first preliminary results for the October 31 parliamentary elections.

As of now, results from 1,085 polling stations have been counted, which is 28.2% percent of the total number of polling stations in the country.

Based on the first preliminary results:

• Georgian Dream – 54.72%
• United National Movement – 23.61% 
• European Georgia - 4%
• Alliance of Patriots - 3.34%
• Lelo for Georgia - 2.66%
• Strategy Aghmashenebeli- 2.46%
• Girchi - 1.86%

Polling stations closed at 8 p.m. in Georgia, with 1,970,540 voters having cast their ballots in the parliamentary elections; voter turnout stood at 56.11%.

The CEC chairperson Tamar Zhvania introduced the results of 1,085 polling stations, stressing that all of the final protocols are available at the results.cec.gov.ge 

Meanwhile, earlier the CEC has been accused of delaying to publish the initial results. While announcing the interim results, the CEC chairperson Tamar Zhvania was interrupted by the CEC member from the UNM, who accused Zhvania of falsifying the data on behalf of the ruling party. 

However, Zhvania explained in her remarks that a lot of protocols still need to be counted, therefore the data of large constituencies, which were not yet included, might influence the final results. 

• Follow Central Election Committee's counting of election votes live [VIDEO]

3,657 polling stations have been prepared to receive voters amid the pandemic in Georgia, as well as 11 stations established for exceptional cases and 127 special stations for the voters in hospitals and isolation (quarantine, self-isolation). 

• Elections 2020 results in real time on interactive map of Georgia

One of the allegations that opposition representatives had to the CEC concerned the number of protocols at the 127 special stations for the voters in hospitals and isolation. 

As the CEC explained, a total of 311 mobile boxes were taken to individuals who are currently in quarantine or self-isolation. 

However, the CEC noted that such voters could only vote for proportional party lists, which is why the number of signatures might be exceeding the sum of the votes and invalit ballot papers in the final protocols.