CEC Releases Final Municipal Election Results
The Central Election Commission (CEC) released on Wednesday the final vote tallies of the proportional part of the October 21 Sakrebulo elections in Tbilisi as well as the mayoral contest in the country’s capital.
According to CEC, 411,847 out of 943,423 voters registered in Tbilisi cast their ballots in the municipal polls.
The ruling Georgian Dream’s mayoral candidate, Kakha Kaladze, won the mayoral elections with 51.09% of votes (204,061), followed by independent candidate, Aleko Elisashvili, who finished with 17.48% of votes (69,803). The opposition United National Movement’s mayoral candidate, Zaal Udumashvili, comes third with 16.59% of votes (66,259), followed by European Georgia’s Elene Khoshtaria with 7.11% of votes (28,411).
Irma Inashvili of the Alliance of Patriots garnered 3.02% of votes (12,070), followed by Giorgi Vashadze of the New Georgia and Kakha Kukava of the Democratic Movement – Free Georgia with 1.95% (7,800) and 1.25% of votes (5,005), respectively. No other candidate managed to obtain more than 1% of votes.
The ruling party leads in the Sakrebulo elections as well. With 53.15% of votes (205,994), the ruling party will sit 15 out of 25 members under the proportional contest; UNM, which garnered 17.66% of votes (68,432), will have 5 seats; the European Georgia garnered 9.18% of votes (35,586) and will be represented by 3 members; and the Alliance of Patriots, which obtained 5.62% of votes (21,775), will have 2 seats.
The results of the majoritarian part of the Sakrebulo polls were also finalized on November 1 by 10 district election commissions operating in Tbilisi, with the ruling party securing all 25 seats under the majoritarian contest. As a result, the Georgian Dream will have 40 lawmakers in the 50-member Tbilisi Sakrebulo.
63 district election commissions across the country held their final sessions on November 1 as well, but their final vote tallies, like in the case of Tbilisi majoritarian polls, will be published on CEC’s official website within 10 days.
According to the preliminary results available at results.cec.gov.ge, the Georgian Dream is leading in all constituencies under the proportional contest. The ruling party received the lowest support in Martvili Municipality, where it garnered 40.08% of votes, and the highest support in Sachkhere Municipality, where it obtained 82.26% of votes.
The ruling party’s mayoral candidates are leading in 63 municipalities across the country, but managed to clear the 50% threshold, and therefore, obtained outright victories, in 57 municipalities. Tamaz Mechiauri of “Tamaz Mechiauri – For United Georgia,” managed to obtain victory in the mayoral elections in Tianeti Municipality, making him the only non-GDDG candidate to win a mayoral race in the country.
Second round runoffs in six municipalities, among them Kutaisi, Kazbegi, Khashuri, Borjomi, Ozurgeti and Martvili, will be conducted on November 12, the Central Election Commission decided on Wednesday.
The United National Movement, whose mayoral candidates qualified for second round races in Kutaisi and Martvili, announced on October 23 that it would withdraw from runoffs, citing “mass rigging, blackmail and use of administrative resources” as the reason behind its decision. According to the election code, however, candidates cannot officially withdraw from runoff elections as their names will still appear on ballot papers.
The CEC’s final results do not significantly differ from the preliminary results released on October 22, a day after the municipal elections.
