Both the ruling party and the opposition coalition have already had time to claim that they won the elections.
19:23•Updated 21:00
The ruling party in Georgia, Georgian Dream, seems to have received 53 percent of the votes, when 70 percent of the polling stations have been counted, the country’s election commission says.
According to the Election Commission, the final voter turnout was 58.94 percent.
However, competing door-to-door polls have given mixed predictions of the results after voting closes. Both the ruling party and the opposition coalition have already had time to claim that they won the elections.
According to a door-to-door poll by Imedi TV, which supports the pro-Russian ruling party, Georgian Dream, the ruling party would receive 56 percent of the vote.
The door-to-door polls of the opposition-supporting channels Formula and Mtavari Arkhi, on the other hand, predict a victory for the pro-Western, EU-membership-supporting Muutos coalition of opposition parties.
Former Prime Minister of the ruling party, Bidzina Ivanishvili announced the victory of the Georgian Dream just minutes after the voting closed.
– I assure you that our country will achieve great success in the next four years, Ivanishvili said.
Georgia’s pro-European president Salome Zurabishvili in turn announced message service in X the opposition being in charge.
– European Georgia is winning with 52 percent, despite attempts to falsify the elections and without the votes of people living abroad, President Zurabishvili writes.
Source: Reuters
The news is updated.