Georgia may be on the brink of being the first Caucasus nation to elect a female president in balloting this weekend to succeed incumbent Giorgi Margvelashvili, who isn’t seeking a second term.

French-born former Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili, 66, is among a record 25 candidates in a bruising race notable more for its dirty tricks and mudslinging than debate on policy.

The country’s voters began casting ballots as polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time on October 28. They are scheduled to close at 8 p.m.



Some 3.5 million are eligible to cast ballots in the election, which is being monitored by observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Zurabishvili, who is running as an independent even though she has the backing of the ruling Georgian Dream party headed by former Prime Minister and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, has faced personal attacks over her background and been branded a traitor for saying a brief war with Russia over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008 occurred because “we yielded to Russia's provocation.”

The campaign has also been marked by the release of several secretly recorded audiotapes alleging bribery among state officials, a murder plot implicating former President Mikheil Saakashvili, and claims of witness tampering and torture in politically charged cases.

“If there is a sufficient mobilization of Georgian Dream supporters, Salome Zurabishvili should score a first-round victory,” Ivanishvili said.

Independent opinion polls are hard to come by in Georgia, but party-backed surveys suggest the main challengers are Zurabishvili, Grigol Vashadze, also a former foreign minister who is running for the opposition United National Movement (UNM), and former parliamentary speaker Davit Bakradze, nominated by the opposition European Georgia party.

The first-round winner needs more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff between the top two candidates. If Zurabishvili doesn’t clinch a majority of votes in the first round, Ivanishvili said “there is no doubt” she will win a runoff.

Georgia, which is strategically important for the West and is crisscrossed with pipelines carrying Caspian oil and gas to Europe, has pushed hard for greater political and economic integration with the European Union and other Western structures.

But the former Soviet republic is also struggling to recover from a decline in exports and a plunge in the currencies of its main trading partners, which have depressed economic growth in recent years.

While the president ensures adherence to the constitution by state bodies, the position's crucial function lies in foreign policy as the main negotiator of international treaties and accords. The president also appoints ambassadors and other diplomatic representatives.

For a country at a crossroads in a region known for rampant corruption, some analysts fear the dominance of Ivanishvili behind the scenes could hinder Georgia’s reputation as a bastion of progress and reforms.

“For many years, Georgia has been one of the top performing countries in its region on anticorruption and good governance,” while “the recent backsliding on democratic governance is extremely troubling,” says Transparency International chairwoman Delia Ferreira Rubio.

“It would be a great shame if Georgia’s progress towards improved rule of law would turn instead towards kleptocracy and impunity for corruption,” she added.

The presidential election, Georgia's seventh since 1991, will be the last in which the head of state will be elected by direct ballot.

A 2017 constitutional amendment takes effect after the vote that will see subsequent presidents elected by a 300-member College of Electors, comprising parliamentarians and local and regional political representatives.

If Zurabishvili does emerge as the victor in the vote, she would become the first woman outside the Baltics to be elected head of state in a post-Soviet republic.

Nino Burjanadze was twice thrust into the role of president, once just after the Rose Revolution and again when Saakashvili stepped down in late 2007 to call early presidential elections following a political crisis over a violent crackdown on opposition protesters. Burjanadze was parliamentary speaker at the time.</s>"The turnout in the Georgian presidential election was 46.74 percent; a total of 1,637,956 people voted. The turnout in the 2013 presidential election was 45.4 percent," Mikeladze told reporters at a briefing.

Georgia will hold second round of presidential election as candidates have failed to gain required 50 percent of votes, the Georgian Election Administration said on Monday after 98 percent of votes were counted.

Salome Zourabichvili, an independent backed by the ruling Georgian Dream has received 38.6 percent, while his rival Grigol Vashadze from the main opposition party got 37.7 percent. They both qualify for the second round, according to the administration.

The polling stations have closed on October 28 at 8 p.m. local time (16:00 p.m. GMT). A total of 25 candidates took part in the election.

This presidential election in Georgia is last when the country's leader is elected directly by people. All following presidents will be chosen by a special panel consisting of 300 electors. Given these changes, the president who will be elected this year will spend six years in the office instead of five.</s>Georgians to vote in last direct election for president

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Sunday's election will be the last time residents of the former Soviet republic of Georgia get to cast a ballot for president — that's if any of the 25 candidates running gets an absolute majority.

Opinion polls suggest that none of the candidates will exceed the 50 percent needed for a first-round victory and that the country on the Black Sea will have to choose between Sunday's two top candidates in a November presidential runoff.

Under constitutional changes that began in 2010, Georgia is transitioning to being a parliamentary country. After the upcoming president's six-year term ends, future heads of state will be chosen by delegates. The presidency's powers already have been substantially reduced, with the prime minister becoming the country's most powerful politician.

Most polls show the top three candidates as Salome Zurabishvili, Grigol Vashadze and David Bakradze. Each served a stint as Georgia's foreign minister during the presidency of now-exiled Mikheil Saakashvili.

Zurabishvili was sacked in 2005 amid disagreements with parliament. She is running as an independent but is backed the powerful Georgian Dream party funded by controversial billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, a Saakashvili foe. Georgian Dream holds an overwhelming majority in the parliament.

Zurabishvili, however, has been heavily criticized for her contention that Georgia started the 2008 war with Russia. Some Georgians look with suspicion at her foreign background: born in France, she did not visit Georgia until she was in her 30s and she once served as a French diplomat.

Zurabishvili counters that this background is a strong qualification for Georgian president as the country seeks closer ties with the European Union.

"My European experience of what it means to develop in democratic society, while knowing what is Georgian society," can be useful, she told The Associated Press.

Vashadze, who is backed by a coalition that includes the United National Movement that was founded by Saakashvili, says the election is a choice "between law and order and the constitution, and Ivanishvili, his informal criminal armed groups and corruption, which is back in Georgia."

"Citizens, businessmen, they are scared to death to contribute a single dime to the united opposition," he said.

Vashadze says Saakashvili, who was stripped of his citizenship in 2015 and was sentenced in absentia for abuse of power, should be allowed to return to Georgia.

The third top candidate, Bakradze, is from the European Georgia Party, which split off from the UNM. He says Zurabishvili is "unacceptable due to her position and statements, which directly harm Georgia's security and national interests."

The election is being monitored by an array of local and international groups.

The Georgian branch of Transparency International on Thursday issued a report claiming that Georgian Dream had misused its position as the governing party by mobilizing government workers to attend Zurabishvili's rallies.

Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report.</s>Georgians are voting in their country's presidential election. Incumbent president Giorgi Margvelashvili, who is not seeking a second term, said he voted on October 28 "for a commander in chief that is proud of the men and women serving under the Georgian flag." Former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire who leads the ruling Georgian Dream party, said he hoped that the election outcome will set Georgia on its "true path toward Europe and culture." Both Margvelashvili and Ivanishvili voted in the capital, Tbilisi.</s>ELECTION 97: The Election Management and the Presidential Election Challenges</s>After the announcement of the first exit polls in the presidential election in Georgia

Exit polls showed a tight race between the candidate supported by the ruling Georgia Dream party, Salome Zurabishvili, and Grigol Vashadze of the centre-right coalition Strength is in Unity.

Both candidates received around 40 per cent of the vote, Georgian media reported. One candidate would have to receive more than 50 per cent of the vote in order to avoid a second round.

As the results were becoming clearer, Georgia Dream said late Sunday that there would have to be run-off election.

About 3.5 million people were eligible to vote, with 25 candidates running in Sunday's election.

Turnout was 46.7 per cent according to preliminary data from the elections committee.</s>TBILISI – Voters in Georgia are casting ballots in a presidential election that could see the country become the first Caucasus nation to elect a female president.

The October 28 presidential election, Georgia's seventh since 1991, will be the last in which the head of state will be elected by direct ballot. In 2017, the constitution was amended so that future presidents would be elected by a 300-member College of Electors, comprising parliamentarians and local and regional political representatives.

Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze was among the first to cast his ballot in the capital, Tbilisi.

"I voted for prosperity, Georgian traditions, and our European choice," he told reporters after voting.

Some 3.5 million are eligible to cast ballots in the election, which is being monitored by observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

By midday, turnout stood at almost 16 percent, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC).

CEC spokeswoman Ana Mikeladz said voting was proceeding peacefully across the country with only a few minor procedural issues arising.

Polls were scheduled to close at 8 p.m. local time.

French-born former Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili, 66, is among a record 25 candidates in a bruising race notable more for its dirty tricks and mudslinging than debate on policy.

Zurabishvili, who is running as an independent even though she has the backing of the ruling Georgian Dream party, headed by former prime minister and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, has faced personal attacks over her background and been branded a traitor for saying a brief war with Russia over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008 occurred because "we yielded to Russia's provocation."

The campaign has also been marked with several releases of secretly recorded audio tapes alleging bribery among state officials, a murder plot implicating former President Mikheil Saakashvili, and claims of witness tampering and torture in politically charged cases.

"If there is a sufficient mobilization of Georgian Dream supporters, Salome Zurabishvili should score a first-round victory," Ivanishvili said.

Independent opinion polls are hard to come by in Georgia, but party-backed surveys suggest the main contenders are Zurabishvili; Grigol Vashadze, also a former foreign minister who is running for the opposition United National Movement (UNM; and former parliament speaker Davit Bakradze, nominated by the opposition European Georgia party.

The first-round winner needs more than 50 percent of votes to avoid a runoff between the top two candidates.

If Zurabishvili doesn't clinch a majority of votes in the first round, Ivanishvili said "there is no doubt" she will win a runoff.

If Zurabishvili wins the vote, she would become the first woman outside the Baltics to be elected head of state in a post-Soviet republic.

A woman has previously served as acting president, however.

Nino Burjanadze was twice thrust into the role of president, once just after the 2003 Rose Revolution and again when President Mikheil Saakashvili stepped down in late 2007 to call an early presidential election following a political crisis over a violent crackdown on opposition protesters. Burjanadze was parliament speaker at the time.

With reporting by RFE/RL correspondent Alan Crosby and Interfax</s>Georgians to vote in last direct election for president

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Sunday's election will be the last time residents of the former Soviet republic of Georgia get to cast a ballot for president — that's if any of the 25 candidates gets an absolute majority.

Opinion polls suggest that none of the candidates will exceed the 50 percent needed for a first-round victory and that the country on the Black Sea will have to choose between Sunday's two top candidates in a runoff that would be held by Dec. 1.

Under constitutional changes that began in 2010, Georgia is transitioning to being a parliamentary country. After the upcoming president's six-year term ends, future heads of state will be chosen by delegates. The presidency's powers already have been substantially reduced, with the prime minister becoming the country's most powerful politician.</s>Georgians are casting their ballots on Sunday in the last direct presidential election, after the nation’s constitution was amended eight years ago. Under the new law, the popular vote is to be replaced in 2024 by an electoral college, comprised of lawmakers and delegates from local administrations. The tight race is fronted by former foreign ministers, Salome Zurabishvili, and Davit Bakradze. Zurabishvili, 66, is running as an independent, but is endorsed by the ruling liberal Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia party. Her main opponent Bakradze, 46, is from the opposition European Georgia party. The vote has been marred with reports of various scuffles and fiery arguments erupting between politicians and activists at some of the polling stations.</s>Polling stations opened in Georgia on Sunday for citizens to elect their president for the last time through direct voting before elections become the prerogative of the legislature.

Salome Zurabishvili and Grigol Vashadze from the opposition are seen as clear favorites in the polls, which are open to more than 3.5 million voters.
Georgian citizens vote in the last presidential election to be decided by direct election.