Elections in Georgia: Salome Zurabishvili in the lead

According to exit polls, Salome Zurabishvili wins the second round of the presidential election in Georgia.

According to polls at the exit of polling stations led by Gallup, the independent candidate Salome Zurabishvili, supported by the ruling party, the Georgian dream, would have won 58% of the vote. His rival Grigol Vashadze, representing the opposition movement "Strength in unity", gained 42%.

The exit poll conducted by the television channel Rustavi-2 also gave the victory to Zurabishvili, but with a result of 55%.

"Together we have given up on the past, which would hinder Georgia's progress. Our choice is a peaceful and free Georgia. I wish to engage in a dialogue with those who did not vote for me. We are all citizens of a small country, we live in a state, we must unite and calm down, "said Zurabishvili, commenting on the results of the first elections.

Grigol Vashadze, after reading the results of polls at the exit of the polling stations, decided not to evaluate them: "We are definitely waiting for the final data, because a large number of voters came to the polls after 17 hours ".

But the former leader of the country Mikhail Saakashvili, arguing Vashadze, called on Georgian citizens to take part in protest actions calling for the appointment of extraordinary parliamentary elections. "From tomorrow, despite the results, we move to mbad disobedience. I urge the Georgian police, the army to stand out from the gang of mafia criminals, I urge you to take in hand the salvation of Georgia, "he said.

Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze congratulated Georgia "with another victory". "Georgia is an accomplished democracy," he said. – I want to thank all the citizens who took part in the elections today. Voter turnout was quite high. He added that "it is not the moment to spend it on vacation".

According to the Central Election Commission at 17:00 local time, the turnout was 47.31% (38.16% in the first round). The final data on participation, as well as the official election results, will be known later.

Independent observers, including Transparency International – Georgia, found violations of the secrecy of the vote, possible voter corruption and an attempt to falsify the elections.

The first round of the presidential election was unexpectedly competitive: although many observers have predicted Zurabishvili's victory, she was only able to outperform the opposition candidate by 0.9%. of them did not get the 50% needed to win. Some badysts have called the result "slap in the face of the ruling party," which had won decisive victories in previous elections after the change of power in Georgia in 2012.

General repetition

Due to Georgia's transition to a form of parliamentary government, the president's powers will be considerably limited, but he remains the supreme commander and has the right of veto and pardon. Analysts see the election as an important test for political forces ahead of the 2020 legislative elections.

According to local observers, on the eve of the second round of the presidential race, the pre-election environment was even more intense and polarized than before.

The "European Georgia", whose candidate took third place in the first round, and the Republican party expressed their support for the opposition candidate, Grigol Vashadze.

Zourabishvili, for his part, received the support of the Alliance des patriotes in the 2016 parliamentary elections.

Zurabishvili is an officially independent candidate, but the ruling party not only voiced support, but also actively participated in the election campaign.

After the first round, some of the election banners featuring Zurabishvili changed posters with representatives of the ruling party, including the president of influential billionaire Georgian Dream. Bidzina Ivanishvili, which opponents accuse, it is he who alone controls all levers of governance of the country.

Zurabishvili herself only arrived in Georgia in 2003 – she was born in France and worked as a diplomat at the French Foreign Ministry for about 30 years. Already in March 2004 she became Georgia's Foreign Minister, although she did not remain in power for long – a year later she was fired and the incumbent presidential candidate became opposition to Mikhail Saakashvili.

Particularly, Zurabishvili was criticized for his "pro-Russian stance" – after declaring that Russia had launched a war against Georgia 100 years ago, but that in 2008, Georgia was implicated in a provocation Russian, provoking a new series of conflicts. She then recovered a little, adding that Russia had acted as an aggressor.

The ruling party believes that the victory of Vashadze can become a kind of revenge of the previous government – the party of the candidate "United National Movement", which is part of the bloc of the general opposition, was founded by the government. former president Mikhail Saakashvili.

The Georgian dream is confident in the fact that the opposition candidate is not fighting for the presidency but for the right to pardon Saakashvili and other former senior officials indicted after the change of government in Georgia.

Grigol Vashadze announced his intention to pardon the former president, including, early November, during an interview with Deutsche Welle.

Saakashvili is accused of financial crimes and abuse of power, while he himself stated that he was not going to ask for pardon because he had not acknowledged the accusations. The ex-president left Georgia after the expiry of his second presidential term and was deprived of Georgian nationality after receiving Ukrainian citizenship (Ukrainian nationality was subsequently subsequently denied, Saakashvili contests this decision). and states that he has no more nationality.

Unprecedented pressure

On the eve of elections, Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze said that the authorities had done everything to ensure that the elections were free and transparent.

At the same time, three influential non-governmental organizations monitoring the presidential elections in Georgia have drawn attention to the government's promise to cancel the debts of more than 600,000 voters. The Prime Minister announced the decision on November 19 – less than 10 days before the second round of elections.

The opposition had already presented a similar initiative, but the announced decision called it a pre-election deception and a deception of the authorities.

According to the report of the organization "International Society for Honest Elections and Democracy", Zurabishvili collected 85% of the donations collected during the second round, more than a million dollars. His opponent received less than $ 200,000.

Georgian voters elect the country's president for a six-year term. The next president will be chosen by the electoral college of 300 people.

Voting across the country, with the exception of the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia which had separated from Georgia, ended at 8 pm , local hour.

In the 55 polling stations open abroad, Georgian voters will be able to vote until 24 hours local time in their country.

Nina Akhmeteli
bbc