Nearly 3.5 million Georgians were called to the polls in the legislative elections. Polling stations closed at 8 p.m. local time (4 p.m. UT). How did this day of voting go, what is the atmosphere like as we await the results and above all do we have any first indications from the polls?
3 mins
With our correspondent in Tbilisi, Régis Genté
We have first indications, but we still have to be wary since these are simply exit polls and each party claims victory. There are no official results at the moment.
The lesson nevertheless given by these first exit polls is that those in power are giving themselves far fewer votes and percentages than they have been boasting about in recent weeks and days. And this suggests a defeat or a relative defeat on the part of those in power.
But this will be confirmed in the coming hours with the first official results, knowing that the vote for approximately 90% of voters took place electronically – inside the polling station, but on an electronic machine -, which will allow a priori faster counting.
Voting went fairly well in most of the 3,000 polling stations. That said, there was still a lot of violence and tension in around forty polling stations or outside. There were tensions, fights. The headquarters of the main opposition party was attacked by around fifteen figures close to power.
This evening, therefore, we feel that tension remains high in the country while we are in an atmosphere of great geopolitical change which worries many people and which provokes a lot of violence and tension in Georgian society.
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