TBILISI: Georgians voted on Saturday in a parliamentary election tightly contested between a ruling party whose popularity is waning amid economic problems and an alliance of opposition parties who have accused government supporters of ballot rigging.
Voting was brisk, with lines of voters wearing protective masks forming outside several polling stations in the capital Tbilisi. The Central Election Commission (CEC) said that by 5 p.m.(1300 GMT) over 45% of registered voters had cast ballots.
“No coronavirus will prevent me from making my choice. I’m ready to stand here for hours as I want changes in our country…this government should go,” said Petre Lomsadze, a 31-year-old Tbilisi resident.
Most polls have put the ruling Georgian Dream party – founded by Georgia’s richest man, Bidzina Ivanishvili – ahead in the race, but it is not clear whether the party can secure more than 40% of the votes needed to form a single-party government.
An alliance of more than 30 opposition parties has vowed not to go into coalition with the governing party, but Georgian Dream leaders predicted the party would win a third consecutive term outright.
“According to information received from our campaign headquarters, the Georgian Dream will win a landslide victory in the election,” Irakli Kobakhidze, the party’s executive secretary, told reporters on Saturday afternoon.
Within a few hours of polls opening, however, the opposition accused the ruling party and its supporters of vote buying and making threats against voters and local observers.
Georgian Dream leaders denied the accusations and acknowledged only some technical irregularities in voting. Local and international observers, whose numbers are limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic, did not comment on the opposition claims.
“The strong Georgian nation will firmly defeat the oligarch today,” said Nika Melia, a lawmaker from the opposition United National Movement (UNM), referring to Ivanishvili.
ECONOMY HARD HIT
A fifth of Georgian territory is controlled by pro-Russian separatists following a short war with Russia in 2008.
The country’s economy has been hit hard by the spread of the coronavirus and is forecast by the government to contract by 4% in 2020.
The government’s opponents accuse it of mishandling the economy, selective justice, weak foreign policy and stamping on dissent with the violent dispersal of protests.
Critics say Ivanishvili, who does not hold a government post, runs the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million people from behind the scenes, an accusation denied by Georgian Dream.
More than 30 opposition parties, led by the UNM, the largest and strongest opposition force, announced on Friday that they would not go into coalition with the ruling party after the election.
Polls suggest the distribution of 30 seats in the 150-seat parliament to be filled through voting for individual candidates in electoral districts will be crucial to the outcome and may introduce more diverse voices to the new parliament. The remaining 120 seats will be decided along party lists.
Both the government and the opposition would like to see Georgia join the European Union and NATO, but such moves would be strongly resisted by Moscow. Georgian Dream also favours closer ties with Russia.
The results of four exit polls commissioned by private television channels will be announced immediately after polls close at 8 p.m. (1600 GMT). Preliminary results are expected to be announced by the CEC early on Sunday.
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