The ruling party won the elections in Georgia, Saakashvili's supporters chanted in jail

Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party won a nationwide municipal election, which foreign observers say went well, but was overshadowed by some irregularities, as well as the arrest of former President Mikheil Saakashvili. His supporters staged protests over the politician’s dismissal on October 4.

According to the Central Election Commission, after counting all the results obtained at 3,743 polling stations in the country, the ruling Georgian Dream party held 46.7 percent votes. The main opposition party, the United National Movement, scored 30.7 percent. The rest of the votes were divided among the remaining 48 parties, the third party “For Georgia” received 7.8 percent.

At the same time, the second round of mayoral elections will be held in most major cities – Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Rustavi and Poti – none of the candidates won an absolute majority there.

While the ruling party won a convincing victory, the opposition and independent observers declared numerous violations.

Mikheil Saakashvili, the founder of the United National Movement, promised to continue the hunger strike, which he reportedly began after his arrest. Waving red and white flags and chanting Saakashvili’s name, hundreds of protesters gathered near a detention center in Rustavi on October 4, where the former president has been since his arrest last week.

According to the Central Election Commission of Georgia , on election day, 366 complaints were lodged with district election commissions, most of which were “procedural violations.”

Non-governmental organizations observing the elections in Georgia reported dozens of falsifications of results, including vote-buying, voting secrecy violations and election carousels.

Transparency International, which has about 300 observers in Georgia, reported 160 violations and 30 complaints.

In total, voters voted for mayors in 64 municipalities, as well as for almost 2,100 members of local governments. According to the election authorities, voter turnout in Georgia was almost 52 percent.

In the election of Tbilisi mayor Kakha Kaladze from the “Georgian Dream” received almost 45 percent of the vote, while the party chairman ” United National Movement »Nika Melia scored 34 percent.