PVT Results Give Saakashvili a Lead

Incumbent candidate Mikheil Saakashvili has won 50.8% and Levan Gachechiladze of the nine-party opposition coalition 27.2%, according to parallel vote tabulation conducted by the election watchdog organization, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED).

Initially, ISFED said Saakashvili had 50.08%, but later corrected the figure to 50.8%.

PVT, which entails counting votes simultaneously with officials from precinct election commissions, was conducted by ISFED observers at 394 polling stations throughout Georgia. The margin of error is 2%, according to ISFED.

Tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili is third with 7.3%, followed by Shalva Natelashvili with 7%; Davit Gamkrelidze – 4.3%; Giorgi Maisashvili – 1% and Irina Sarishvili – 0.2%, according to ISFED’s PVT.