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Georgian opposition party wins majority of votes - exit polls

01 October 2012 18:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The first exit polls in Georgia’s parliamentary election are showing a lead for the country’s opposition group, the Georgian Dream coalition. The results show the country’s ruling party, the United National Movement, to be falling behind, APA reports quoting RT.
Multiple exit polls display varying results, but all show the Georgian Dream party to be in the lead.
The first poll to be released was conducted by American company Edison Research, and was ordered by Georgian TV channel Rustavi-2. It showed the opposition with a 51 per cent lead, with the ruling party taking only 41 per cent of the votes.
Georgian Dream’s billionaire leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili, has already expressed his congratulations to the party.
The countryâ€™s opposition, including the Georgian Dream Coalition, has accused several polling stations of committing â€œserious violations.â€
They said an attempt had been made to organize a â€œcarouselâ€ at one of the polling stations, as well as to put pressure on voters by issuing pro-Saakashvili reading material on site.
However, the countryâ€™s ruling United National Movement accused the Georgian Dream of pressuring voters and using the opposition coalitionâ€™s symbols â€“ which is not allowed to take place on election day.
Meanwhile, the countryâ€™s Central Election Commission denied the allegations, telling AP that â€œthe elections are proceeding without serious incidents.â€
The voter turnout in the country was higher than in previous years â€“ by 5pm local time, 54 per cent of voters had turned up at the polls.
The results come after Saturdayâ€™s protest against Saakashvili in the countryâ€™s capital of Tbilisi. Over 200,000 people took to the streets to express support for the opposition while changing anti-Saakashvili slogans.