MP By-Elections Early Results: Tight Race in Sagarejo, GD in Lead in Martvili

A candidate from the Georgian Dream ruling coalition in Martvili single-mandate constituency is set to win a majoritarian seat in the Parliament, while race in Sagarejo is too close to call, according to early official results of Saturday’s MP by-elections.

Only 87 votes separate the two leading candidates in Sagarejo, according to returns from 48 out of 50 precincts in this single-mandate constituency in eastern region of Kakheti.
 
These early results show that GD ruling coalition’s Tamar Khidasheli of the Republican Party has 6,967 votes (48.08 %) and one of the leaders of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia Irma Inashvili – 6,880 votes (47.48 %).

Three independent candidates, who were also running in the race for a majoritarian MP seat in Sagarejo, have combined of slightly over 4%.
 
One of the two precincts from where results have yet to arrive is a special polling station, which was established ahead of by-election specifically for military service members deployed at the Mukhrovani base.

Before the election day, Inashvili, who says that only two dozen out of 549 servicemen at Mukhrovani are locals from Sagarejo, was calling for scrapping this special precinct; Inashvili was accusing Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli, who is from the Republican Party, of trying to manipulate poll results by votes of army service members deployed at Mukhrovani base.

This special precinct is attached to a polling station located in a nearby village of Ujarma. Votes cast by soldiers at Mukhrovani are counted at the precinct in Ujarma.

After midnight on Sunday, Inashvili and her supporters gathered outside the precinct in Ujarma to, as they put it, defend votes. During a press conference at 2am local time Chairperson of the Central Election Commission, Tamar Zhvania, called on the activists gathered in Ujarma “not to cause tensions and not to impede work” of the precinct officials.

34.43% of 46,082 eligible voters turned out at polling stations in Sagarejo, according to the Central Election Commission.

MP by-election in Sagarejo was called after GD’s lawmaker Tina Khidasheli of the Republican Party quit the legislative body following her appointment on the post of the Defense Minister in May. 

Meanwhile in Martvili, GD’s candidate Soso Danelia has a big lead over his only competitor in the race Eter Medzvelia of the Alliance of Patriots. According to vote tallies from Martvili’s all 39 precincts, Danelia has 72.54% of votes and Medzvelia – 27.45%.
 
Most of the opposition parties refused to field their candidates in these MP by-elections.

UNM and Free Democrats parliamentary opposition parties, as well as 11 non-parliamentary opposition parties announced about boycotting of by-elections in Martvili and Sagarejo in August.

The voter turnout in Martvili, where 33,510 voters are registered, was 40%, according to the Central Election Commission.

A candidate winning more votes than others, but not less than 30% will be declared an outright winner of the race without requiring second round runoff.

MP by-election was held in Martvili constituency to fill a vacant seat in the Parliament following the death of UNM MP Nauli Janashia in March.