Georgia Opposition Seeks To Trounce Billionaire's Party In Key Poll

Georgia opposition seeks to trounce billionaire's party in key poll

Georgians voted Saturday in tightly contested parliamentary elections pitting an unlikely union of opposition forces against the increasingly unpopular ruling party led by the country's richest man

Tbilisi, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Oct, 2020 ) :Georgians voted Saturday in tightly contested parliamentary elections pitting an unlikely union of opposition forces against the increasingly unpopular ruling party led by the country's richest man.

Two colourful personalities dominate politics in the tiny Caucasus country -- the former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who lives in exile in Ukraine, and the billionaire ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili believed to be calling the shots in the pro-Western country.

In an unprecedented show of unity, Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM) and smaller opposition groups have joined forces to challenge the ruling Georgian Dream party chaired by Ivanishvili.

Dozens of voters queued in the autumn sunshine outside a polling station in the centre of the capital Tbilisi minutes after polls opened at 0400 GMT.

"I am very optimistic, Georgia will today get rid of Ivanishvili and his corrupt government," plumber Lasha Guruli told AFP after casting his ballot.

Another voter, mathematician Lamara Lagvilava, said she had also voted for the opposition.

"Georgia can't stand any longer the incompetence of the Georgian Dream government," she added.

But Ivanishvili said he was sure of his party's victory.

"We will comfortably win the elections, garner at least 60 percent of the votes and will again form a cabinet," he told journalists at a polling station in Tbilisi.

- 'His time is up' - Saakashvili for his part said he had no doubt the opposition would trounce Ivanishvili and his party.

"His time is up," he wrote on Facebook.

But analysts believe the outcome is far from certain, with the opposition enjoying only a narrow lead.

Nestled between the Caucasus mountains and the Black Sea, Georgia is seen as a rare example of a democracy among ex-Soviet countries.

But elections in the country of nearly four million people regularly spark mass protests, with only one orderly transition of power, after a parliamentary vote in 2012.

On the eve of the vote, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia promised free and fair polls and encouraged citizens to vote in the elections which "will define Georgia's further successful development".

Observers have noted however that huge financing and Georgian Dream's alleged pressure on public servants give an unfair advantage to the ruling party.

"Georgian Dream is unchecked in its use of unlimited administrative and financial resources", said analyst Gia Nodia.

Turnout was 19 percent at 0800 GMT, four hours after polls opened, the Central Election Commission said.

On Thursday, tens of thousands of Saakashvili supporters staged a rally in Tbilisi's central square, cheering as he addressed them by video link.

The charismatic reformer was forced to flee Georgia at the end of his second term as president in 2013, fearing arrest after prosecutors accused him of abusing power -- charges he has denied, insisting they were politically motivated.

In power since the 2012 parliamentary elections, Georgian Dream's popularity has plummeted due to discontent over its failure to address economic stagnation and perceived backsliding on its commitment to democracy.

Critics accuse Ivanishvili of persecuting political opponents and creating a corrupt system in which private interests dominate politics.

- 'Rules Georgia as fiefdom' - "An oligarch who owns some 40 percent of Georgia's national wealth has appropriated the country and is ruling it as his fiefdom," Saakashvili told AFP in an interview ahead of the vote.

Western capitals have accused the Georgian Dream-led government of mounting a political witch-hunt against the ex-president and his allies and Interpol has turned down requests from Tbilisi to issue a red notice against Saakashvili.

Nearly all of Georgia's opposition parties, including Saakashvili's UNM, held talks on forming a coalition government if elected.

Due to Georgia's complex election rules the final makeup of the 150-seat parliament may only become clear by late November.

Voting, which is set to end at 1600 GMT, is being monitored by observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Exit polls are set to be published when polling stations close and the first preliminary results are expected to be released after 2000 GMT.