606,710 voters, that is 17.15% of registered voters, turned out at polling stations by the noon in Sunday’s presidential election four hours after the polling stations were opened, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC).

In October, 2012 parliamentary elections voter turnout at noon was 25.88%.

International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), which is the largest Georgian election observer group, said that as of 11am its monitors filed six complaints. ISFED, which has 1,200 observers, said that polling stations’ opening procedures were carried out better than it was in last year’s parliamentary vote.  

Another Tbilisi-based watchdog group, Transparency International, which has 370 observers, said that as of noon electoral process was ongoing in calm atmosphere. But it also said that “more procedural violations” were reported by the noon than during the last year’s parliamentary elections. TI Georgia said that its monitors observed up to 20 “minor” and 22 “relatively serious violation” and filed total of 22 complaints as of noon.