Polls in Adjara, Tbilisi Marked with Low Voter Turnout

44.9% of voters turned out at the polling stations in Adjara Autonomous Republic on November 3 to election the local parliament, according to the figures posted on the local central election commission’s website.

Early results of the polls will be available on November 4, according to the commission. Most of the opposition parties have boycotted polls in Adjara.

Meanwhile, the Georgia’s Central Election Commission has already posted very early results of low-key MP by-elections in the Tbilisi’s two single-mandate constituencies, where voter turnout was very low – only 7.5% by 5pm – three hours before the polling stations were closed. Final result of voter turnout was not posted on the CEC website by late night on November 3. The law does not require any voter turnout threshold to validate the polls.

According to the early results Guram Chakhvadze of the National-Democratic Party (NDP) was leading in the Didube single-mandate constituency, followed by Natia Mikiashvili, a former journalist of Imedi TV, who was nominated by the Georgian Troupe party. If these results stand as final, it will mark the NDP’s first representative in the Georgian Parliament for last ten years. NDP was an influential opposition party in 1990s but has lost its powerbase since then.

A candidate nominated by the Christian-Democratic Party, Tamaz Kvachantiradze, leads in the Vake single-mandate constituency with a small margin over a candidate nominated by the On Our Own party, Levan Asatiani.

The by-elections were required in Tbilisi’s two single-mandate constituencies after the two majoritarian MPs – the New Rights Party’s Davit Saganelidze and Davit Gamkrelidze, renounced their MP mandates in Didube and Vake, respectively, in protest at what they called the fraudulent May 21 parliamentary elections. Total of twelve opposition politicians renounced their MP mandates, but others were elected through the party-list system so MP by-elections were required only in those two districts.

Not only most of the opposition parties boycotted the by-elections, but the ruling party has also refused to run.

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