3.5 Million Voters Registered for Georgia’s Upcoming Parliamentary Elections

TBILISI - Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) announced Monday that 3,513,884 Georgian citizens had been registered to vote in Saturday’s upcoming parliamentary elections.

CEC spokesperson Ana Mikeladze said the finalalized list would be sent to the election commission of each district in the country.

Mikeladze also announced that 11 exceptional voting precincts in prisons and on military bases would operate during the elections, giving an additional 3,000 eligible voters the chance to cast their ballots.

In total, 3,634 regular polling stations will operate in 73 constituencies across the country.

The government also announced that 56 polling stations would operate in various locations abroad, including two in Afghanistan for Georgian peacekeepers.

The CEC announced that around 7 million ballots had been printed in preparation for the elections. The ballots will be available in Georgian, as well as the languages of Georgia’s main ethnic minorities.

Specially adapted bulletins will also be made available for blind voters.

Around 54 international organisations will join a 315-member OSCE delegation and 100 local NGOs to observe the elections.

The United States’ National Democratic Institute (NDI) and International Republican Institute (IRI) will also send a high-level international mission of politicians, civil sector leaders, elections experts and regional specialists to oversee the voting process.

By Thea Morrison

Edited by Nicholas Waller