The Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC) has announced the preliminary results for the April 2 by-elections held in the cities of Batumi and Rustavi, with the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party candidates leading the race.

The preliminary results for the local majoritarian elections in Batumi show that GD candidate Ramaz Jincharadze received 69.013% of the votes, while the United National Movement’s Mate Putkaradze got 30.987%.

In the parliamentary majoritarian elections in Rustavi, GD’s Irakli Shatakishvili received 90.612%, Mamuka Tuskadze for Social Justice got 6.952%, and 2.436% of the votes went to Kamal Muradkhanov from the Georgian Unity and Development Party.

CEC Chair Giorgi Kalandarishvili said the polling was conducted ‘in accordance with the election legislation,’ while the observed shortcomings were ‘minor’ and ‘did not affect the results.’