Georgian CEC updates provisional election results

The opposition coalition Georgian Dream is leading the ruling United National Movement party in the proportionally-representative ballot of the 2012 Georgian parliamentary elections by 53.15 percent to 41.6 percent of the votes. The lead was reported by the Georgian Central Election Commission upon having counted ballot in 1,312 of the 3,766 polling stations in both Georgia and abroad. There are 3,719 polling stations inside the South Caucasus country. The next closest rival party on the party-list is the Christian Democratic Movement with 2.31 percent of the votes. Voters from within Georgia and abroad were to vote 73 members of parliament from as many single-seat constituencies through the format of the voted with majority votes taking the seat. The voters were also to vote for 77 proportionally- representative members of parliament through a mechanism known as the 5-percent threshold in Georgia. Any of the 16 registered political parties and election blocs which have garnered over 5 percent of the total ballot will be allocated parliamentary seats in proportion to their shares of votes. Previously, the majoritarian and proportional ballots halved the elections for the 150-seat unicameral legislature of Georgia. In 2012, the parties, both ruling and opposition, agreed to reduce to 73 seats the quota for majoritarian ballot and to increase to 77 seats the quota for proportional ballot. The Georgian Central Election Commission started early on Tuesday to release provisional results, though it originally planned to announce the official results on Oct. 20.