TBILISI : Exit polls from Georgia’s presidential runoff on Wednesday showed the ruling party-backed candidate, who favours balancing the ex-Soviet republic’s relations with Moscow and the West, beating a rival who advocates a stronger pro-Western line.
A Gallup poll for the pro-government television station Imedi suggested Salome Zurabishvili, a former French career diplomat who served as Georgia’s foreign minister from 2004-2005, won with 58 percent of the vote.
Her opposition rival, Grigol Vashadze, also a former foreign minister, got 42 percent, it showed.
Another poll, commissioned by opposition-leaning TV station Rustavi-2 and conducted by Edison Research, showed Zurabishvili with 55 percent, while Vashadze got 45 percent.
The figures were released shortly after polls closed at 2000 (1600 GMT).
The Central Election Commission (CEC) plans to announce the first preliminary results in the early hours of Thursday.
The second round of voting was under close scrutiny by opposition and international observers for any sign that the ruling Georgian Dream party is using its control of state machinery to help Zurabishvili win.
