TBILISI, October 26. /TASS/. Polling stations in the Georgian parliamentary election closed at 8:00 p.m. local time (4:00 p.m. GMT - TASS), with voter turnout reaching 50.6%, the Central Election Commission said.

While an exit poll by pro-government TV channel Imedi said the ruling Georgian Dream party, which has been in government for 12 years, is leading the election with 56.1%, the opposition TV channel Formula put the figure at 40.9%, saying that the four largest opposition parties jointly garnered more voter support.

As many as some 48,000 local and international observers were present in the election as more than 2,800 reporters from the Georgian and foreign media covered the voting.