Preliminary Results Show GD Wins in 48 of 50 Districts
The preliminary data published by the Central Election Commission of Georgia (CEC) revealed that the ruling party Georgian Dream (GD) won in 48 of 50 districts during the parliamentary election run-off held on October 30.
According to the results, the main opposition party United National Movement (UNM), which faced GD in 44 districts, had no winning candidate after the run-off.
The ruling GD failed to win in only two districts: in Khashuri, central Georgia (N43 district), where the candidate of the Industrialists, Simon Nozadze, won the run-off, and in N1 district of Mtatsminda, Tbilisi, where an independent candidate, Salome Zurabishvili, won. GD had no candidate in Mtatsminda, but supported Zurabishvili.
GD also managed to obtain a majority in Adjara’s Supreme Council and, according to the CEC, Georgian Dream candidates won in all six constituencies of the region. GD got 8 mandates from the proportional elections and 8 mandates from the first-past-the-post elections. On the whole, Georgian Dream will have 14 deputies in the 21-member Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara.
Georgian Dream is to have a constitutional majority in the 9th composition of the Parliament of Georgia.
150 parliamentary seats will be distributed among 77 proportional and 73 majoritarian MPs. The constitutional majority needs 113 MPs.
Only three parties crossed the 5 percent election threshold: GD, UNM and the Pro-Russian Alliance of Patriots, which will have 6 mandates in parliament.
GD gained 44 mandates in the proportional elections and 23 in the first round of majoritarian elections on October 8.
According to the preliminary results of the second round, Georgian Dream won elections in 48 precincts. Consequently, according to the preliminary results, Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia will have 115 MPs in the new Parliament.
According to the Chair of the CEC, Tamar Zhvania, the elections were held in a peacefully and voters had an opportunity to express their will.
Zhvania noted that there were some incidents during the run-offs but underlined, however, that on the whole, the process was carried out in a transparent manner and the voters were able to participate in the elections in a free environment.
The CEC will publish the final election results by November 19 and adopt a summary protocol of the final results no later than 19 days from the second round of the elections.
The first session of the new parliament needs to be held no later than 20 days following the adoption of that protocol.
Parliament Speaker, Vice-Speakers and Committee Chairmen will be elected at the first session, appointed and opened by the President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili.
Thea Morrison