Two-Thirds of Votes Counted

With up to 65% of votes already counted by early morning on January 7, incumbent candidate Mikheil Saakashvili leads with over 51%, followed by the nine-party opposition coalition candidate, Levan Gachechiladze on 25.4%.

Levan Tarkhnishvili, the chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) said last night that all signs were that Saakashvili would win in the first round, precluding the need for a run-off. He said, however, that his figures indicating this were subject to change in the event that some precinct results were invalidated either by the CEC or the courts.

The opposition coalition, which has claimed that the authorities are trying to manipulate the results and has demanded a run-off, is expected to seek the invalidation of results from certain disputed precincts.