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Results from the First Round of Elections and Challenges of the Second Round

June 24, 2014
 
Lado Bichashvili, Shida Kartli

As a result of June 15 Local Self-Governmental Elections five out of seven candidates for the mayor’s position in Gori left the contest. Zurab Jirkvelishvili of the Coalition Georgian Dream and Kakhaber Ergemlidze of the Irakli Okruashvili – Georgian Party will oppose each other in the second round.

Candidates for the Gori district governor’s position from the Georgian Dream and Irakli Okruashvili-Georgian Party moved into the second round of the elections. Political temperature will be much higher in the second round because one vote might decide the fate of candidates. The results of the first round were not acceptable for any political subject. 

Kakhaber Ergemlidze of the Georgian Party received 1 454 less votes than Zurab Jirkvelishvili of the Georgian Dream. The latter received 5 286 votes and Ergemlidze – 3 832. GD’s candidate lost ballot only in nine polling stations in Gori; Kakhaber Ergemlidze defeated him in those polling stations.

As soon as the results were announced, election office of the Georgian Dream started preparation for the second round. Candidate Zurab Jirkvelishvili said second round was unexpected for him.

Zurab Jirkvelishvili, candidate of the mayor’s position from the Georgian Dream: “Absolutely all of our supporters will be ready to come to us. Our supporters were so much confident in our victory that some of them even did not go to the elections and it was serious mistake. To tell the truth, we were also confident in our victory; maybe we were more confident than necessary.”

Election office of the Georgian Party also hopes for the victory in the second round. Party leader Irakli Okruashvili said their pre-election campaign will be more active both in the city and in the self-governance community.

Irakli Okruashvili, Georgian Party Leader: “Since I was not allowed to participate in the elections, we had to work in force majeure situation; we nominated different candidate; although very strong governmental and financial resources opposed us, we do not think that we received bad results in the first round. But it did not change anything; we still continue struggle. Unfortunately, our supporters were confident in our victory and did not go to polling stations. It might also be result of our bad work but everything is still ahead.”

According to the CEC, candidate from the Georgian Dream received 40, 38% of votes and candidate from the Georgian Party – 29, 27%.

According to the CEC, Georgian Dream lost ballot in 19 polling stations out of total 107 stations in Gori DEC # 32 with proportional list. The ruling coalition received the worst results in so called Kombinati settlement in Gori – they lost elections almost in every polling station with high percentage. As for the city center, Chala and Station settlements, voters unanimously supported the ruling coalition. Georgian Dream’s candidate won elections with only 14 votes in Tsmindatskali settlement. 140 ballot papers were annulled in the settlement. Election office of the Georgian Party filed a complaint about those polling stations to the District Election Commission. Okruashvili’s party candidate won polls in Verkhvebi IDP settlement. Candidates received equal number of votes in the Gori polling station # 14. Finally, with proportional list Georgian Dream received 35,5% that is 4 209 votes and Georgian Party –28, 6% that is 3 398 votes.

As for the Gori district and other communities within the municipality, candidate for the district governor’s position from the Georgian Dream Davit Oniashvili received 12 867 votes, candidate Bondo Vatiashvili from the Georgian Party – 7 476 votes. Davit Oniashvili lost polls in several communities: Akhrisi, Kvemo Artsevi, Rekha, Mereti, Pkhvenisi, Tirdznisi and Shindisi. Georgian Dream lost polls according to proportional system in Karaleti village IDP settlement too – GD received 190 votes and Georgian Party – 213 votes there. Okruashvili’s party candidate for the district governor’s position lost elections in Tkviavi and Nikozi village polling stations; it is notable that Tkviavi is Okruashvili’s native village and Nikozi – their candidate for the mayor’s position Kakhaber Ergemlidze.

Neither the candidates for the district governor’s position received necessary 51% of votes and second round was fixed. The second round will supposedly be held at the end of July. Necessity of second round is mostly connected with low activity of voters during Election Day in Gori district. Only 40% of voters participated in it. 

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