Pre-Election Monitoring of the Runoffs of October 8, 2016 Parliamentary Elections Interim Report
In the first round of majoritarian MP races of the October 8, 2016 parliamentary elections, winning candidates were identified only in 23 out of 73 single-mandate constituencies. Consequently, for the remaining 50 majoritarian seats the second round of elections had to be scheduled. The Central Elections Commission (CEC) set the date of majoritarian runoffs in 50 electoral districts for October 30.
By virtue of the Election Code of Georgia, a candidate that garners more than 50% of votes in the first round of majoritarian elections will be the winner. If there are no winners in the first round of elections, the second round will be called where the top two candidates that gained most votes in the first round of elections will be competing.
Following the first round, top two candidates in 44 majoritarian electoral districts are from the Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia and the United National Movement; in two districts the highest numbers of votes were received by the Georgian Dream’s majoritarian candidate and independent majoritarian candidates; in another two districts candidates of the Free Democrats and the Georgian Dream will be competing for the seats; in one majoritarian district the runoff will identify a winner between Topadze-Industrialists and the Georgian Dream candidates, and in one majoritarian district a candidate of the United National Movement and an independent candidate will be competing against each other.
The Georgian Dream candidates are leading in 46 districts where the runoffs will be held, the UNM candidates are leading in two districts, and Topadze-Industrialists candidates and independent majoritarian candidates are lading in another two.
In two of the fifty majoritarian constituencies where the runoffs will be held, two majoritarian candidates – opposition leaders Sandra Roelofs (the UNM) and Irakli Alasania (the Free Democrats) announced withdrawal from the second round contests. According to the CEC, their names will remain on election ballots because the Election legislation does not envisage the possibility of cancelling registration of candidates that qualify for the second round of elections.