Tomorrow, 3 October, by-elections for the Sakrebuloes of the municipalities of Vani, Tsalka, Dmanisi and Akhmeta will be held. In this regard, the Central Election Commission (CEC) Press Speaker, Natia Ioseliani, held a briefing today. According to the Press Speaker, the by-elections will be conducted under the majoritarian electoral system.

“Voters will elect four majoritarian members of the Sakrebuloes of the respective municipalities. A total of seven polling stations have been opened across the four electoral districts for the by-elections, including four in Tsalka.

As a reminder, polling stations are open in Akhmeta Municipality in the village of Kasristskali; in Dmanisi Municipality between the villages of Velispiri and Ganakhleba; in Tsalka Municipality in the villages of Imera, Bareti, Sabetchisi and Livadi; and in Vani Municipality in the village of Pereta. Both electronic and traditional voting models will be used. Electronic voter verification and vote-counting devices will be used at three polling stations in Tsalka and at the polling station in Vani.

The total number of registered voters is 2,225. A total of 50 voters have requested the use of a mobile ballot box.

Seven majoritarian candidates nominated by two political parties are registered for the elections. In Dmanisi, Tsalka and Vani, candidates nominated by the electoral subjects “Georgian Dream” and “Strong Georgia – Lelo” are registered, while in Akhmeta, only a “Georgian Dream” candidate is registered.

It is noteworthy that the electoral process will be observed by 56 observers from seven local organizations, while 187 representatives of eight media organizations will cover the process.

We would also like to remind voters of the voting procedures. Voting will take place from 08:00 to 20:00. Upon arriving at the polling station, voters must present a Georgian citizen’s ID card or passport. At polling stations where voting is conducted using electronic means, the registrar will provide voters with a ballot and a special frame envelope of the appropriate format. At an electronic polling station, voters must use the special marker to mark the inner space of the circle next to only one candidate of their choice and, using the special frame envelope, place the ballot into the vote-counting machine through the slot beneath the slot cover.

The vote-counting machine automatically counts the votes and, following the completion of the required procedures after voting ends, prints a statement of the preliminary results. The statement will be sent to the CEC via tablet. The data will also be available to any interested person on the website results.cec.gov.ge.

At three polling stations, voting will be conducted using the traditional method; however, the ballots will be scanned and digitized, uploaded to a secure platform, and made available to all interested parties.

Voting is secret. Photography and video recording are prohibited inside the voting booth.

We would also like to remind you that the CEC Contact Hub – 2 51 00 51 – will operate throughout the day. The Media Center will also operate continuously, providing the media and electoral stakeholders with information on matters of interest to them,” Natia Ioseliani said.