Ruling Party Supported Candidate Fails to Win Elections, Runoff will be Tough
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, October 30
The Georgian Dream ruling party supported presidential candidate Salome Zourabichvili failed to win in the first round of 28 October presidential elections and she nearly got defeated by the United National Movement opposition nominated candidate Grigol Vashadze.
Zourabichvili received 38,6 percent of votes, while Vashadze enjoyed the support of 37,7 percent of voters.
The preliminary results of the Central Election Commission of Georgia came several hours after the exit polls late on Sunday released by the Georgian Dream with Zourabichvili winning by 52 percent and Rustavi 2 private broadcaster -with Vashadze and Zourabichvili both having 40 percent of votes.
Zourabichvili has refused to comment for the media after the stage was demolished in central Tbilisi where she should have celebrated her victory.
Vashadze held a briefing on Monday when he said that “there is no time for euphoria” as the second round is ahead.
Vashadze thanked the third runner David Bakradze from the European Georgia opposition party and the Republican Party for their promised support in the runoff, which must be held until December 2.
“I am waiting for support from other opposition parties,” Vashadze said.
The Secretary-General of the Georgian Dream ruling party, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze stated that via the elections the Georgian people sent a message to the government that “many things are to be done and that fast and effective changes should take place.”
“We have received the message,” Kaladze said but also added that one of the reasons of the second round could be the ruling party’s refusal to name its presidential candidate.
“We supported the independent candidate in the elections and this could also be the reason why many of our supporters did not cast ballots. However, with the statement we are not trying to avoid responsibilities,” Kaladze said.
The opposition says that the Georgian people responded to the actions of the “useless government” by the election results.
The Central Election Commission of Georgia counted 99 percent of votes as of yesterday.
Third runner David Bakradze received 10.9 percent of the vote.
The leader of the Labour Party Shalva Natelashvili received 3.7 percent of votes and former parliament speaker and leader of the Development Movement David Usupashvili- 2.2 percent of votes.
