Georgian presidential election goes to 2nd round

Georgia’s presidential election will go to a second round between two former foreign ministers. No single candidate won outright in the first round, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said on Monday. After all the votes from Sunday’s first round were counted, French-born former diplomat and Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili secured 38.7 percent of the vote. Grigol Vashadze, also a former foreign minister, received 37.7 percent. A runoff between Zurabishvili and Vashadze will be held before December 2. Constitutional changes have handed most authority to the office of prime minister. There were some irregularities, but no serious violations took place during the election, Reuters quoted Tamar Zhvania, the head of the CEC, as saying.