Georgians headed to the polls on Saturday in a ballot many citizens see as a make-or-break vote on the opportunity to join the European Union.
The pre-election campaign in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7m people has been dominated by foreign policy and marked by a bitter fight for votes and allegations of a smear campaign.
Some Georgians complained of intimidation and being pressured to vote for the ruling party, Georgian Dream, while the opposition accused the party of carrying out a “hybrid war” against its citizens.
A video shared on social media on Saturday showed a man stuffing ballots into a box at a polling station in the town of Marneuli, 26 miles south of Tbilisi.
Georgia’s interior ministry said it launched an investigation and the central election commission said a criminal case had been opened and that all results from the polling station would be declared invalid.
Ahead of the parliamentary election, Bidzina Ivanishvili – a shadowy billionaire who set up Georgian Dream and made his fortune in Russia – vowed again to ban opposition parties should his party win.
Georgian Dream will hold opposition parties “fully accountable under the full force of the law” for “war crimes” committed against the people of Georgia, Ivanishvili said at a pro-government rally in the capital Tbilisi on Wednesday.
He did not explain what crimes he believes the opposition has committed.
Georgians will elect 150 lawmakers from 18 parties. If no party wins the 76 seats required to form a government for a four-year term, the president will invite the largest party to form a coalition.
Many believe the election may be the most crucial vote of their lifetimes; it will determine whether Georgia gets back on track to EU membership or embraces authoritarianism and falls into Russia’s orbit.
“It’s an existential election,” the Georgian president, Salome Zourabichvili, said.
About 80 per cent of Georgians favour joining the EU according to polls and the country’s constitution obliges its leaders to pursue membership in that bloc and NATO.
But Brussels put Georgia’s bid for entry to the EU on hold indefinitely after the ruling party passed a “Russian law” cracking down on freedom of speech in June.
Many Georgians fear the party is dragging the country towards authoritarianism and killing off hopes it could join the EU.
The opposition parties have ignored Zourabichvili’s request to unite into a single party but have signed up to her “charter” to carry out the reforms required by the EU to join.
At the EU summit last week, EU leaders said they have “serious concerns regarding the course of action taken by the Georgian government”.
Polls opened in the parliamentary election at 8am local time and will close 12 hours later.
Georgian Dream stands against three coalitions: the Unity National Movement, the Coalition for Changes Lelo, and Strong Georgia.
The Gakharia for Georgia party, set up by former prime minister Giorgi Gakharia, said it will not go into an alliance with anyone but will support the opposition to form a government.
Press Association – Associated Press Reporters