Givi Chichinadze of the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG) party has obtained victory in Saturday’s MP by-elections in Khoni and Vani single-mandate constituency, as reported by the Central Election Commission (CEC).

According to the vote tallies from all 60 polling stations, GDDG’s Givi Chichinadze garnered 57.86% of votes, followed by Gigi Ugulava of the opposition European Georgia party with 38.38%. The remaining four candidates obtained 3.76% of votes in total.

The overall turnout in the by-elections was 57.9% (27,846 voters).

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, which fielded a monitoring mission for the by-elections, said in its interim assessments today that the polls were held “largely peacefully and without major violations.”

The majoritarian seat in the Vani and Khoni single-mandate constituency became vacant after Grigol Liluashvili, a ruling party lawmaker, who chaired the Parliament’s committee for regional policy and self-governance, was appointed the deputy head of the State Security Service.