Georgians handed President Mikhail Saakashvili's allies a big victory in a parliamentary election on Sunday, but tensions in a wayward province and reported violence threatened to overshadow the poll.
An exit poll for Rustavi-2 television forecast that Saakashvili's National Movement - Democrats bloc had won 78.6 percent of the vote and no opposition party would clear a seven percent hurdle needed to win seats in parliament.
Saakashvili, elected president by a landslide in January after leading a bloodless revolution, has pledged to unite the divided Caucasus nation and stamp out rampant corruption.
The election was a rerun of a November poll viewed as rigged that led to the popular uprising and ouster of veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze, the Soviet Union's last foreign minister.
"I want everybody to see that we in Georgia are capable of holding fair, normal, free, just elections," Saakashvili told reporters as he voted in Tbilisi.
Preliminary official results were due on Monday.
The United States, which backs Saakashvili, is keen to see a stable Georgia as the former Soviet republic lies on the route of a Western oil pipeline due to start pumping Caspian oil to the Mediterranean next year without the need to cross Russia.
The head of the Central Election Commission, Zurab Chiabesashvili, said there had been "a clash" at Tsikhisdziri and some voters had been prevented from casting ballots in Adzhara, an autonomous province whose leader has been at odds with Saakashvili.
"I am not sure we will be able to save the election in Adzhara," he said. He gave no details of any of the incidents.
A Reuters reporter in Batumi, the main city of Adzhara, visited several polling stations and could not confirm the reports of disturbances.
'DEMOCRACY NEEDS OPPOSITION' Saakashvili's success in tapping deep-seated frustration with a post-Soviet history marked by civil wars, corruption and Russian efforts to wield influence has left many opponents discredited and in disarray.
But US ambassador Richard Miles had hoped opposition parties would win some seats. "Any democracy needs an opposition in the parliament," he said.
Sunday's poll was for 150 seats in the 235-seat chamber, the other 85 seats were not nullified after the November vote. If the exit poll proves correct, the only parliamentary opposition will come from a handful of deputies elected first time round.
Saakashvili's attempts to bring to heel Aslan Abashidze, leader in Adzhara, have sparked accusations on both sides that free voting in the province bordering Turkey would be hindered.
Kalashnikov-toting supporters and military units loyal to Abashidze have increased the danger of armed conflict in a country that has two openly separatist regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which are not participating in the vote.
For his part, Abashidze accused the government of planning to falsify results in Adzhara to prevent his Revival party returning to parliament.
Adzhara has jealously guarded its autonomy and control of the oil-exporting sea port at Batumi.
Comments
Comments are closed.