EU Ambassador: I hope that voters will be able to cast ballots in peaceful, calm atmosphere

EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell hopes that the voting process for local elections will take place in a peaceful, calm, and safe electoral environment.

“Today is the election day. This is a special day for all democracies. This is the day when politicians, commentators, opinion-makers are silent, and voters come out and express their position. Over the past two weeks and the last 24 hours, we have seen a high level of polarization, which is very unfortunate”, said Hartzell.

According to him, all political parties agree that people should go out and vote. Carl Hartzell also noted that the coronavirus is still in force:

“I want to urge everyone to follow the recommendations, observe social distance”.

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The voting procedure began at 08:00 and will last all day. Polling stations will be closed at 20:00. All this time, advertising and campaigning of political parties are prohibited.

43 electoral subjects were registered for the October 2 elections. The candidate with more than 50% of the vote in the mayoral election wins. At the same time, as a result of the electoral reform, a threshold of 40% is applied for the election of majoritarian city councilors.