Voters line up to cast ballot at a polling station on Leselidze street in Tbilisi. Photo: Guram Muradov/Civil.ge

10.3% of voters cast their ballot in two hours after the polling stations were opened on Monday, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC).

It reported that a chairman of one of the precinct election commissions in Rustavi was not able to continue performing duties after being “physically insulted”, but voting continued at the precinct.

Transparency International Georgia, which has observers on 300 polling stations plus 36 mobile teams, said in up to twenty polling stations number of ballot papers were less than registered voters on respective precincts. CEC said it was not unusual, because registered voters on precincts might also include those who are marked in the list as ‘being abroad’ or in military service.

International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), which has over 1,200 observers, said that polling stations’ opening procedures were in line with law in 77.2% of cases and “minor shortcomings” were observed during opening of 20.3% of polling stations; in 2.5% of observed polling stations procedures of opening precincts were not in compliance of the law.