Georgian Dream wins with 70% of votes in Gardabani by-election

Gocha Jamarauli received 70% of votes in the Gardabani by-election, according to CEC. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The ruling Georgian Dream coalition won the by-local election in Gardabani on Thursday.

The election was necessary to find a replacement for Garsevan Nioradze, the recently deceased gamgebeli or head of municipality of Gardabani, a town about 45km south of the capital.

There were two candidates; one from the ruling Georgian Dream coalition and one from the former ruling party the National Movement (UNM).

According to results published by Central Election Commission (CEC), the GD candidate Gocha Jamarauli received 16,104 votes in total or 70.15 percent of the votes. UNM’s Besik Kakhabrishvili received 6,851 votes.

The election environment was peaceful, according to CEC, but there were several reports of incidents outside precincts where groups of citizens clashed and even threw stones at one another.

16 organizations observed the by-election in Gardabani. Observers filed several complaints on election day, but most concerned technical errors.