High voter turnout in Georgia's pivotal parliamentary elections

There are long queues at Georgia’s polling stations and ballot boxes as the country votes in what could be its most pivotal parliamentary elections to date.

As the ruling Georgian Dream government faces off with the coalition of pro-European Union parties, the elections will decide if Georgia is bringing an end to 12 years of increasingly authoritarian rule and will head down a path towards joining the European Union, or if they are to face increased Russian influence.

The ruling Georgia Dream party faces four main opposition parties: United National Movement, Strong Georgia, Coalition for Change and Gakharia for Georgia.

The Georgian population will elect 150 members to parliament through a proportional representation system, of which only the political parties that surpass the 5 per cent election threshold will be represented in the legislative body.

High voter turnout

In total 3,508,294 Georgians who are registered to vote can cast their ballot at 3,111 polling stations. At 5PM local time (3PM CET), data by the Central Electoral Commission showed that Georgia’s voter turnout stood at 50.6 per cent.

That is just over five per cent higher than in 2020, where the voter turnout stood at 45.8 per cent – but lower than the 53 per cent turnout during the landmark election in 2012 that brought the Georgian Dream to power. This data does not include expatriate voters.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili cast her ballot at the polling station in the #67 Public School of Tbilisi. She said she voted for “a new Georgia, for which I arrived in this country 22 years ago and my ancestors prayed for.”

The leader of the United National Movement coalition Tina Bokuchava said she cast her vote for the European future of Georgia, and is convinced many will choose the same path.

Coalition for Change leader Nika Gvaramia echoed her, and predicted that the opposition would win the election.

Coalition Strong Georgia leader Mamuka Khazaradze said that “this is a crucial election for our country, I am sure that our country will make the right choice. This choice will be towards freedom, Europe, stable peace, and, most importantly, towards the real alternative.”

Electronic scanners

It is the first time polling stations were equipped with electronic scanners at the ballot boxes, a new concept for many of them – and it resulted in some technical issues.

Polling stations will close at 8PM local time (6PM CET), and preliminary results are expected to be announced a few hours after. The Central Election Commission said they plan to announce the final results on Sunday morning.