More than 3,000 voting stations opened at 8 am in Georgia’s crucial parliamentary elections on October 26. Pro-Western Georgians billed the vote as a “referendum”, a choice between Russia and Europe.
In the first fully proportional vote, 3,508 294 voters will be eligible to cast their ballots for the 150-member parliament. Georgians can choose between 18 political parties including the increasingly authoritarian ruling Georgian Dream Party and four major opposition forces (three coalitions, and one party), which are seeking to challenge this 12-year rule.
This is the first Georgian elections to be conducted primarily electronically, meaning that voters cast their ballots in polling stations with electronic machines that count and identify the votes. This new voting procedure will be used by approximately 90% (3,113747) of the voters. Remote and overseas constituencies are using traditional voting procedures.
95,910 voters are registered to vote abroad in 67 of the 3,111 precincts, which is a 45% rise over the 2020 elections. 135,922 Georgians can vote for the very first time.
Over 100 local and over 60 international observers have registered to monitor the election. Key local watchdogs are scheduled to provide regular updates on Election Day.
The Central Election Commission will release preliminary results several hours after polls close, based on an automatic count of ballots in electronic precincts throughout Georgia. The final results will include all precincts who voted the traditional way. They are expected to be released early tomorrow, after all ballots, including those in electronic polling precincts, have been manually counted.
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, the main Georgian election watchdog, plans to release the results of Parallel Vote Tabulation, a statistical method for verifying the official results on October 27.
Follow our Election Live Blog to stay up-to-date.
Context:
* Georgia’s October 20, 2024 Parliamentary Election: Key Facts
* The October Elections: Odds and Context
* Campaign Highlights Before the 2024 October Vote
* Thousands of Volunteers Protect Votes at Georgia’s “Russia vs Europe” Elections
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