The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), an election watchdog group, said on December 4 that it would use parallel vote tabulation (PVT) to verify the official results of the January 5 presidential polls.

PVT was first used in Georgia during the November 2, 2003 parliamentary elections and was instrumental in revealing voter fraud. It entails counting votes simultaneously with officials from precinct election commissions.

PVT results, ISFED said in a statement, would be announced on January 6 – a day after the elections.

Meanwhile, Levan Tarkhnishvili, the chairman of the Central Election Commission, said in an interview with a Tbilisi-based radio station on December 4 that the CEC would announce initial election results on January 6.