Second round of parliamentary elections kicks off in Georgia

The second round of the Parliamentary Elections of Georgia is taking place today. The election runoff will be held in 50 of Georgia’s 73 election districts, Agenda.ge reports.

In the second round, people will vote to elect majoritarian candidates to become Members of Parliament (MPs).

A second round of vote was needed in 50 districts as no majoritarian candidates gained enough votes to enter Parliament in the first election on October 8. To enter Parliament candidates needed to win at least 50 percent of all votes in their respective voting district.  

In today’s runoff, the two candidates who gained the most votes in the initial election will compete today.

There are 73 election districts in Georgia.

After the October 8 vote Georgian Dream (GD) candidates won outright in 23 districts while a winner was not identified in the remaining 50 districts. This meant a second round of vote was needed in 50 districts nationwide.

If two candidates gain the same number of votes in the runoff elections, the winner is the candidate who gained the most votes in the initial election held earlier this month.

Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has printed 2,226,600 ballot papers for today's vote.

The second round of Georgia’s Parliamentary Elections will be observed by a range of international and local organisations.