A man registers to vote at a polling station in Tbilisi, Georgia, Oct. 31, 2020. Georgians are heading to the polls on Saturday amid the coronavirus pandemic to elect the country's 150-member top legislative body for the next four years. (Photo by Kulumbegashvili Tamuna/Xinhua)
TBILISI, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Georgians are heading to the polls on Saturday amid the coronavirus pandemic to elect the country's 150-member top legislative body for the next four years.
More than 3,526,023 registered voters are expected to cast their ballots at 3,657 polling stations across the country and 52 polling stations overseas from 8:00 (0400 GMT) till 20:00 (1600 GMT), according to the country's central election commission.
A total of 48 political parties and two party blocs have registered to run for the parliamentary elections. Any party which garners more than 1 percent of the ballots will be allocated seats in proportion to their shares of votes, according to the commission.
A total of 910 international observers from 23 international organizations have been registered to monitor the elections, said the commission.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili on Saturday urged people to go to polling stations to "vote to build a dream country" after she cast her vote in Tbilisi.
According to Georgia's constitutional amendments, which passed in June, the parliamentary poll in 2020 will be held under a mixed electoral system, with 120 members of parliament to be elected via party lists and the remaining 30 running in single-member majoritarian districts.
An election bloc or party which receives less than 40.54 percent of votes in the proportional elections will not be able to form a government.
The ruling Georgian Dream party previously won the parliamentary poll in 2012 and 2016, after defeating the United National Movement in the elections. Enditem