The presidential elections in Georgia have taken place, with more than half of the 300-member electoral college already participating, announced Natia Ioseliani, spokesperson for the Central Election Commission.
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“The voting process will continue until 14:00; however, by 11:30, 170 members of the electoral college had already participated. Accordingly, the elections are considered to have taken place, as more than half of the entire composition of the electoral college had already participated,” Ioseliani said during a briefing in parliament.
The CEC spokesperson explained that a candidate will be considered elected president if they receive 2/3 of the votes from the entire composition of the electoral college, or 200 votes.
“Once the voting is complete, a CEC session will be held at the Parliament Palace, where the ballots will be counted according to the procedure established by law. A summary protocol will be filled out, and the CEC Chairman will present the results to both the electoral college and the public.
If a candidate fails to secure 200 votes, a second round will be held today by decision of the Speaker of Parliament. In the second round, the presidential candidate will need a majority of votes to win,” Natia Ioseliani added.
The Georgian Dream party is holding the presidential elections in an illegitimate parliament amid protests and police mobilization. For the first time in the history of independent Georgia, only one presidential candidate is participating in the elections. The Georgian Dream party has nominated former football player and MP Mikheil Kavelashvili as its candidate.
Georgia’s sixth president will be elected for a five-year term, indirectly, by a 300-member electoral college. The board consists of 150 members of parliament, 21 members of the supreme representative body of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, 20 members of the supreme representative body of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, and 109 members of local councils.
Of the 109 members of local self-government bodies, the Georgian Dream was to nominate 54 members, while eight opposition parties were to nominate 55. However, since the opposition did not appoint members from the councils to the election board, the Georgian Dream filled the 55 seats allocated to them, giving them 211 members on the election board.
The elections were boycotted by the deputies of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, including former council chairman Temur Mzhavia and Zurab Jguburia.
Mikheil Kavelashvili’s inauguration is scheduled for December 29. This will formally mark the day the country’s fifth president, Salome Zourabichvili, steps down. She maintains that she remains the legitimate president, stating that her “mandate continues until there is a legitimately elected parliament that will legitimately elect” her successor.
