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Results from Georgia’s presidential runoff showed the ruling party-backed candidate, who favours balancing the ex-Soviet republic’s relations with Moscow and the West, defeating her rival who advocates a stronger pro-Western line.

Figures from the Central Election Commission gave French-born Salome Zurabishvili 59.6 percent of the vote in the runoff, which was held on Wednesday. Opposition candidate Grigol Vashadze had 40.4 percent, based on results from almost all polling stations, the CEC said on its website.

Earlier, two exit polls also showed Zurabishvili, a former French career diplomat who served as Georgia’s foreign minister from 2004-2005, with a clear lead.

06:11 (GMT+4) Georgia’s ruling party candidate Salome Zurabishvili was on the verge of winning a hotly contested presidential vote, nearly complete results showed Thursday, as the opposition called for protests over alleged fraud, Breitbart reported.

Former French diplomat Zurabishvili was on 59.61 percent of the vote after Wednesday’s second round, the central election commission said, following completed counts from 98.41 percent of polling stations.

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