Georgia on Saturday kicked off the second round of elections for some seats of parliament in 17 of the total 30 single-mandate majoritarian constituencies, where no candidate received enough majority votes, Xinhua reports. 

According to the country's Central Election Commission (CEC) on Saturday, 1,914 polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0400 GMT) in the 17 constituencies across the country.

Georgia held the first round of parliamentary elections on Oct. 31 to elect the country's 150-member top legislative body for the next four years.

After 99.77 percent of the total ballots were counted, the ruling Georgian Dream party won 48.16 percent of votes, while the major opposition coalition of United National Movement and the Strength is in Unity received 27.12 percent, according to the CEC.

Since no candidates in the 17 single-mandate majoritarian constituencies were able to receive enough majority votes in the first round, a second round of elections is needed in those constituencies, according to the CEC.

According to Georgia's constitutional amendments, which were passed in June, the parliamentary poll in 2020 would be held under a mixed electoral system, with 120 of the 150 parliament seats elected via a proportional system and the remaining 30 elected via a single-member majority system.

An election bloc or party which receives less than 40.54 percent of votes in the proportional elections will not be able to form a government.

The ruling Georgian Dream party previously won the parliamentary poll in 2012 and 2016, after defeating the United National Movement

 

Source - vestnikkavkaza.

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23.11.2020 13:52