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Voting at 2nd round of Georgia’s parliamentary elections over

"The voting process proceeded in a peaceful, calm atmosphere in all the 50 constituencies," said Ani Mikeladze, a spokeswoman for the Georgian Central Election Commission

TBILISI, October 30. /TASS/. Voting at the second round of Georgia’s parliamentary elections is over as all the 2,229 polling station in 50 one-seat constituencies closed at 20:00 local time (19:00 Moscow time) on Sunday.

"The voting process proceeded in a peaceful, calm atmosphere in all the 50 constituencies. No serious violations were reported," Ani Mikeladze, a spokeswoman for the Georgian Central Election Commission, told journalists. According to the Central Election Commission and local non-government organizations monitoring the voting, certain procedural, technical and other minor violations were reported in a number of constituencies.

As of 17:00 local time (16:00 Moscow time), the voter turnout was 30.99% as about 768,000 voters had taken part in the polling in 50 one-seat constituencies.

The second round of parliamentary election in Georgia is held on Sunday in 50 out of 73 one-seat constituencies. Candidates from the Georgian Dream party won in 23 single-seat constituencies in the first round of election held on October 8. In the remaining 50 constituencies, no candidate managed to win more than the necessary 50% plus one vote.

A total of 2,229 polling stations are open in 50 constituencies from 8am local time until 8pm. The total number of eligible voters stands at 2.478 million people. Under the current laws, elections will be recognized as valid at any voter turnout.

The newly-elected 150-seat parliament will include 77 lawmakers elected by party tickets, and 73 elected in one-seat constituencies.

Today’s elections are of major importance for the country’s future political life as under the new edition of the national constitution which came into force in 2012-2013 a party of a bloc winning a simple majority in the parliament (76 seats) will have the right to nominate its candidate for prime minister and form a government. The prime minister, under the news constitution, enjoys much more authority in the country that the president who is the format head of state with limited competences.

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