Georgia elections: Armenians vote for "Georgian dream"

ArmInfo.The ruling Georgian Dream party lost the elections in Tbilisi and other large cities, but took almost 90% of the votes in Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki,populated predominantly by Armenians, News Georgia reports.

The ruling party's results by district in Tbilisi were as follows:  Mtatsminda - 41.512% (14,696 votes); Vake - 38.003% (28,983 votes);  Saburtalo - 39.758% (38,110 votes);

Krtsanisi - 48.831% (11,002 votes); Isani - 45.298% (28,767 votes);  Samgori - 44.924% (37,004 votes); Chugureti - 44.105% (17,936 votes);  Didube - 42.076% (17,234); Nadzaladevi - 42.571% (33,952); Gldani -  40.46% (34,547).

Speaking of the regions, the Georgian Dream failed to win the  elections in all the major cities. These are five of the 74  constituencies outside Tbilisi. Rustavi - 40.99% (24,815 votes);  Zugdidi - 48.052% (6,956 votes); Poti - 49.659% (45,583 votes);  Batumi - 49.659% (45,583 votes); Kutaisi - 47.328% (35,837).

The ruling party showed its best results in Samtskhe-Javakheti and  Kvemo Kartli. These are regions where ethnic minorities live,  including Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The most violations were  reported from these regions during these elections. 

In the Marneuli region, the results even had to be annulled at one of  the polling stations after mass ballot stuffing. At the same time,  the source writes that historically, these regions predominantly vote  for the party in power: Gardabani - 70.831% (8,919 votes); Marneuli -  79.545% (19,424 votes); Bolnisi - 80.711% (18,390 votes); Dmanisi -  76.434% (6,824 votes); Tsalka - 69.335% (3,387 votes); Adigeni -  71.309% (3,328 votes); Akhalkalaki - 88.933% (11,749 votes);  Ninotsminda - 89.771% (7,802 votes).

It is noteworthy that the majority of Georgian citizens who voted in  Yerevan also cast their votes for the ruling force.

According to the latest preliminary data from the Central Election  Commission of Georgia, after processing votes from 3,109 polling  stations out of 3,111, which is 99.936% of the total, the ruling  party "Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia" gained 53.93% (1,118,796  votes). In second place is the "Coalition for Change - Gvaramia,  Melia, Girchi, Droa" with 11.03% (228,821 votes), followed by "Unity  - National Movement" - 10.161% (210,787 votes); "Strong Georgia -  Lelo, For the People, For Freedom" - 8.814% (182,839 votes) and the  party "Gakharia for Georgia" - 7.771% (161,215 votes). 

As for the remaining two polling stations, according to the statement  of the Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Georgia Giorgi  Kalandarishvili, the election results were annulled at one of the  polling stations in Marneuli, and the protocol was not received from  the other station in Dusheti. We will add that the OSCE/ODIHR  monitoring mission has already published preliminary results of  monitoring the parliamentary elections in Georgia.

OSCE Mission Coordinator Pascal Alizar noted the good level of  organization of the elections, but listed a number of problems: the  situation was tense; the secrecy of the ballot was often violated;  there were procedural inconsistencies and violations. Alizar also  spoke about cases of intimidation and pressure, which "negatively  affected voters, and this negatively affected the process", and an  imbalance in the financial resources of the election participants, a  polarized atmosphere during the election campaign and contradictory  legislative changes.