TBILISI: Ruling party candidate Salome Zurabishvili was in the lead after voting closed on Wednesday in a hotly contested Georgian presidential election, an exit poll showed.
Zurabishvili, a former French diplomat, took 55 per cent of the vote in the second round of the election, against 45 per cent for opposition candidate Grigol Vashadze, according to an exit poll by US firm Edison Research.
The new head of state will be a largely ceremonial figure, but the vote is seen as a trial run for the contest between businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili’s ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition in more important parliamentary polls set for 2020.
Western powers are also closely watching the vote — a test for the democratic credentials of the Caucasus nation that seeks EU and Nato membership. The vote is Georgia’s last direct leadership poll as it transitions to a parliamentary form of governance following a constitutional reform. — AFP
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