(29 Nov 2018) Salome Zurabishvili and Grigol Vashadze, two of the top contenders in Georgia's presidential election cast their votes in Tbilisi on October 28th 2018.
Zurabishvili is running as an independent candidate but she is backed by the powerful Georgian Dream Party funded by controversial billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.
She said she will work towards a "peaceful, re-united and European, democratic Georgia."
Vashadze is a candidate from united opposition coalition and is backed by a coalition that includes the United National Movement that was founded by former President Mikhail Saakashvili.
He said Georgia has "one of the most dishonest, unprofessional government that this country has seen since restoration of independence. So, we shall be very attentive and very careful and not give them possibility to fix (rig) elections."
The third main candidate is David Bakradze, from the European Georgia Party, which split off from the UNM.
It is the last time the president of the former Soviet republic will be elected by direct ballot.
Opinion polls ahead of October 28th's election suggested that none of the 25 candidates is likely to receive the absolute majority need for a first-round win. If no one wins 50 percent support, a runoff between the top two candidates is to be held by December 1st.
After the new president's six-year term in completed, future presidents are to be chosen by a delegate system, part of constitutional changes that make the prime minister the most powerful political figure in Georgia. The president functions as head of state and commander in chief but is otherwise largely ceremonial.
Some 3.5 million people are registered to vote in the election, which is being monitored by local and international groups.
The Georgian branch of Transparency International on Thursday issued a report claiming that Georgian Dream had misused its position as the governing party by mobilizing government workers to attend Zurabishvili's rallies.
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Georgian election officials said a French-born former foreign minister has won a presidential runoff, marking the last time citizens of the ex-Soviet nation elected their head of state by popular vote.
The Central Election Commission said November 28th that with 99.9 percent of precincts counted, Salome Zurabishvili has won nearly 60 percent of the vote, while her rival, Grigol Vashadze, polled just over 40 percent in Wednesday' ballot.
Zurabishvili ran as an independent, but backed by the ruling Georgian Dream party. Vashadze was supported by a coalition of opposition forces.
Georgia, a country with 4 million people in the volatile Caucasus region, is transitioning to a parliamentary republic.
Presidential powers have been substantially reduced and after the new president's six-year term ends, future heads of state will be chosen by delegates.
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