TBILISI - With 99 percent of the vote counted, former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili won 52.21 percent of the ballots in Saturday's snap presidential election, the electoral authorities said Tuesday.
Former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili [File photo] |
Under Georgia's election law, a candidate who gains over 50 percent of the vote in the first round of the presidential election win a five-year mandate. Otherwise, a run-off will be held between the top two candidates two weeks later.
Central Election Commission chairman Levan Tarkhnishvili said the official preliminary figures are based on tallies from 3,482 polling stations of the 3,512 in total.
Ballots from the remaining dozens of voting stations located overseas and in mountainous areas can hardly change the situation because they account for less than 1 percent of the vote, the election administration head said.
The Central Election Commission is expected to officially announce the final result within eight days following the voting day.
