Georgia votes in key test for democracy and EU aspirations
Georgians started voting on Saturday in pivotal elections viewed as critical for the future of the country's emerging democracy and its European aspirations, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
The parliamentary elections pit an unprecedented union of pro-Western opposition forces against a ruling party accused of democratic backsliding and shifting towards Russia.Brussels has warned that the vote will determine European Union candidate Tbilisi's chances of joining the bloc.
Opinion polls indicate opposition parties could get enough votes to form a coalition government to supplant the ruling Georgian Dream party, controlled by powerful billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.
"Georgia's traditionally fractured opposition forces have managed to forge an unprecedented united front against Georgian Dream," said analyst Gela Vasadze at Georgia's Strategic Analysis Centre.
"But if the ruling party attempts to stay in power regardless of the election outcome, then there is the risk of post-electoral turmoil."
Georgian Dream says it wants to win a supermajority that will allow it to pass a constitutional ban on all major opposition parties.
In power since 2012, the party initially pursued a liberal pro-Western policy agenda. But over the last two years the party has reversed course.
Its campaign has centered on a conspiracy theory about a "global war party" that controls Western institutions and is seeking to drag Georgia into the Russia-Ukraine war.
In a country still scarred by Russia's 2008 invasion, the party has offered voters bogeyman stories about an imminent threat of war, which only Georgian Dream could prevent.
In a recent TV interview, Ivanishvili painted a grotesque image of the West where "orgies are taking place right in the streets."
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