PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN GEORGIA: VOTES CALCULATION NOT COMPLETED - WINNER IS OBVIOUS

TBILISI, JANUARY 6, 2004. (RIA NOVOSTI) -- By 24 hours, January 6th, the Georgian Central Elections Committee calculated about 700,000 ballots. The distribution, in percent, of votes between candidates did not change - Mikhail Saakashvili wins with 96% of votes, chairman of the Georgian CEC Zurab Chiaberashvili told Novosti-Georgia agency on Tuesday.

The ballots from approximately 864 election precincts (25%) have been calculated, he said and added that 2,850 election precincts were opened on the day of presidential elections.

No preliminary official data on the results of the elections came from the Adjarian autonomous republic of Georgia so far. A total of 67,695 voters took part in the elections on the Adjarian territory, according to information received by CEC.

"All of them were registered on the additional lists directly at the election precincts, since a new preliminary registration of voters was not conducted in Adjaria before the presidential elections," Chiaberashvili pointed out.

According to information disclosed by the CEC, 1,761,934 voters took part in the presidential elections in Georgia.