The mayoral candidates did not receive the required number of votes in Tbilisi, Rustavi, Kutaisi, Poti, Batumi and 15 other Georgian cities, where the second round of elections will take place, the election commission said.

In the elections for the mayor of Tbilisi, none of the candidates, according to preliminary data from the election commission, won more than 50% of the votes. These results mean that a second round of elections is required. A similar situation is developing in Kutaisi, Batumi, Poti, and Rustavi, the Georgian election commission said on 3 October.

On October 2, voting took place in Georgia in the elections of mayors and deputies of local assemblies. The elections were generally normal, with 366 complaints received by the district election commissions, the CEC reported. According to the commission, the turnout in the elections exceeded 50%.

According to the CEC, the ruling Georgian Dream candidate Kakha Kaladze won 45.31% of the vote in Tbilisi by that time, Nika Melia - 34.21%. 57.87% of the votes were counted, the election commission specified.

According to the report, besides the capital, the second round of elections will take place in Rustavi, Kutaisi, Poti, Batumi, Telavi, Tianeti, Kvareli, Khashuri, Tsageri, Bagdati, Tskhaltubo, Ozurgeti, Senaki, Martvili, Khobi, Zugdidi, Tsalenjikha, Chkhorotsku, Khelvacha.

Earlier it was reported that the former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, returned to Georgia despite the criminal sentences imposed on him in the country.

Saakashvili posted videos on Facebook in which he claims to be in Batumi. Saakashvili urged citizens to come to the polls on October 2 and then gather in the centre of Tbilisi.

Saakashvili, who spent the last few years in Ukraine, previously announced that he would return to Georgia on the day of local elections, on the evening of October 2.