Georgians Are Voting On Presidential Elections

• 11.28.2018, 11:19
•  Region

Voters in Georgia today are going to the polls in a presidential election runoff on Wednesday that pits a candidate backed by the ruling party who favors balancing ties with Moscow and the West against a rival who advocates a stronger pro-Western line, DW reports.

• Grigol Vashadze is a former foreign minister and the candidate for Georgia’s main opposition, the United National Movement (UNM). The party was founded by ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was sentenced in absentia for abuse of power earlier this year.
• Salome Zurabishvili is also a former Georgian foreign minister and an independent candidate, but endorsed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, founded by billionaire former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.

To win, one of the candidates must gain over 50 percent of the vote. Otherwise, there will be a further ballot.

In the first round, Zurabishvili, a former career diplomat and Georgia's foreign minister from 2004-2005, received 38.7 percent of the vote on October 28. That was just one percentage point ahead of Vashadze with 37.7 percent.