Georgia

TBILISI, December 11. /TASS/: The Georgian government has stepped down due to a new parliament convocation as required by law, the government press service told TASS Friday.

"The government resigned. From now on, the prime minister and the whole cabinet are acting [ministers]," TASS was told.

VALDOSTA, Ga. (Reuters) - Convinced that the presidential election had been stolen from Donald Trump, the young couple from Blairsville, Georgia at first resolved to skip the state’s Jan. 5 runoffs for two U.S. Senate seats. What’s the point, they figured, of voting in another rigged election?

Then they thought better of it, setting aside their anger for the more pressing concern of keeping one of the two houses of Congress under Republican control.

“Everybody is going to vote,” said Kayla Frank, 25.

TBILISI, October 31. /TASS/: Polling stations for a parliamentary vote opened in Georgia at 8:00 local time on Saturday (7:00 Moscow time), a TASS correspondent reported.

Georgian citizens can cast their ballot until 20:00 local time (19:00 Moscow time) at 3,847 polling stations, including 52 abroad.

The 150-seat parliament of Georgia will be elected via a mixed system: 30 seats via the majority system, and 120 - via the proportional system. In order to dominate the government, a political party needs to secure at least 40.54% of votes.

TBILISI, September 4. /TASS/: At least one person was killed and some more were wounded in an explosion outside the Tbilisi concert hall in the center of the Georgian capital, the Interpressnews agency reported on Friday.

According to the agency, the explosion rocked Tbilisi on Friday afternoon. The police and emergency services have arrived at the site.

There were no immediate reports of the causes of the blast. The emergency services promised to make an official statement later.

SUKHUM, January 13. /TASS/: Abkhazia’s parliament has authorized Prime Minister Valery Bganba to act as president following Raul Khajimba’s resignation from the post, a TASS correspondent reported on Monday.

The decision was taken unanimously by all the 34 lawmakers present at the session.

SUKHUM, January 11. /TASS/: Abkhazia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) will propose a date for a new presidential election in the country within the next five days, Givi Gabniya, a member of the Central Election Commission who represented it at the court hearing on the legitimacy of the presidential election, informed TASS.

"The ruling by the Court of Cassation states that a decision on holding new elections should be made within five days. The CEC will hold a meeting within the next five days," he said.

SUKHUM, January 11. /TASS/: Despite the third day of protests in the country, the Abkhaz government is operating as normal, Prime Minister Valeri Bganba told TASS on Saturday, adding that the state is led by President Raul Khajimba, while resignation demands of the opposition are illegal.

TBILISI, December 25. /TASS/: Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Garibashvili signed an agreement with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar for Turkey to allocate 100 million lira (around $17 million) to Georgia to carry out a reform in the military logistics sphere during Garibashvili’s official visit to Turkey, the Georgian Defense Ministry’s press service reported on Wednesday.

SUKHUMI, November 22. /TASS/: Preliminary reports suggest that two people have died in gunfire in the center of Abkhazia’s capital, Sukhumi, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry of Abkhazia told TASS.

"According to the preliminary information, the gunfire killed two," he said.

Abkhaz Interior Minister Garri Arshba told TASS that the victims were identified - a man and a woman, Abkhaz citizens. The woman was a waitress.

PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga. (AP) — Growth and urbanization, along with President Donald Trump’s struggles among previously GOP-leaning white college graduates, have put Georgia on the cusp of presidential battleground status.

The question is how close.

Republicans acknowledge demographic change but are skeptical the state will swing to Democrats.

As with any competitive electorate, Georgia’s direction will turn on a combination of variables within an electorate that now exceeds 7 million registered voters.