Presidential elections are held in Georgia

Voting in the presidential election takes place in Georgia, 23 candidates are applying for this post, reports Georgia News. Polling stations opened at 7.00, but the vote began at 8.00. It will continue until 20.00.

According to the majority of continuity, the main applicants for the post are George Margvelashvili from the ruling coalition "Georgian Dream", David Bakradze from the "Unified National Movement" (Saakashvili party) and Nino Burdzhanadze from the Democratic Movement - Unified Georgia party. The current President Mikhail Saakashvili cannot run by law for a third term.

There are no thresholds of voters in the presidential election, so the elections will be recognized in any case. The final results should be proclaimed no later than 20 days after the election.

As of 14.00 local time, the CEC of Georgia estimated the voter turnout at 32 percent.

According to the CEC, 3655 polling stations and 34 additional special stages are opened in the country, and 52 plots are functioning outside Georgia - in 44 cities of 37 countries. 48458 citizens of Georgia can vote abroad.

On the territory of Russia, plots did not open due to the absence of diplomatic relations between countries, therefore, Georgian citizens living in Russia cannot take part in the vote.

With the assistance of the Ministry of Defense, the Central Election Commission also created two special polling stations on the Georgian and American military bases in the Afghan Gilmain province, where more than 1,500 Georgian military, participating in the operations of international security assistance in Afghanistan (ISAF) voted.

The speaker of the Central Election Commission of Georgia Ekaterina Azarashvili said that about 20 thousand local observers registered from public organizations, parties and candidates, and more than 1,200 international observers are observing the presidential election. The elections are covered by about 1,500 representatives of local and foreign media.

If none of the presidential candidates in the first round will gain more than 50 percent of the vote, the second round will be appointed. According to the Georgian Electoral Code, the second round is appointed to the Central Election Commission and should take place no later than two weeks after the official announcement of the election results.