Municipal Elections 2021: 17.72% voter turnout by 12 p.m.
During the 2017 municipal elections 16.5 per cent of eligible voters had cast their ballots as of 12 p.m. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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A total of 619,562 voters (17.72 per cent of eligible voters) have cast their ballots in the Georgian municipal elections as of 12 p.m. today.
Georgia’s Central Election Commission says that Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti is still the most active constituency where 27.4 per cent of registered voters have cast their vote.
The least active is the Georgian capital of Tbilisi where 15.8 per cent of registered voters have cast their vote so far.
Meanwhile, during the 2017 municipal elections 16.5 per cent of eligible voters had cast their ballots as of 12 p.m., while during last year’s parliamentary elections the voter turnout stood at 19.41 per cent.
United States Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan says ‘Georgia needs more political stability and not more polarization’. Degnan, who is visiting the precincts in Marneuli as an election observer, says ‘this is a very important day for Georgia’.
“Election day is important, for sure, but it is just the tip of the iceberg”, said Head of the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission (EOM) Albert Jonsson earlier today.
“I have voted for the peaceful and stable development of our country”, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said after casting his ballot in today’s municipal elections. PM Garibashvili said the Georgian population needs to overcome poverty, have more jobs, welfare and unity.
EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell says that today’s municipal elections are a test for Georgian democracy, ‘which I hope that Georgia will successfully pass’, he said earlier today.
Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Davit Zalkaliani has cast his ballot in today’s municipal elections and said that he voted for the 'European and peaceful future of our country'. Zalkaliani said that the projects that have started in the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi really give grounds to say that Tbilisi will be a true European city.
Tbilisi-based non-government organizations, including the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) and Transparency International Georgia, who are observing the municipal elections today, have reported on election violations throughout the country.
The vote count will be taped in 3,200 polling stations during the October 2 municipal elections in Georgia for the first time as part of an additional transparency measure, spokesperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia Natia Ioseliani has stated. "Video recordings will be promptly uploaded to the internet on the Google Drive platform. Video cameras will also be used to record the recounting procedure as well. As a result of electoral reform it will be implemented for the first time this year,” said Ioseliani.