Sawt Falasteen - Ruling party set to win Georgian elections

The election in Russia's southern neighbour has been portrayed by political analysts as a fundamental choice between a European future for Georgia or closer ties with Moscow.

With votes from 70 percent of precincts counted, the central election commission said the Georgian Dream party was leading with 53 percent, while an opposition union was on 38.28 percent.

"Georgian Dream has secured a solid majority" in the new parliament, the ruling party's executive secretary, Mamuka Mdinaradze, told journalists.

Brussels has been deeply critical of Georgian Dream's policies and has warned that the election will determine Georgia's chances of joining the bloc.

Rival exit polls published after voting in the country of four million had shown the ruling party and the opposition ahead.

Pro-opposition President Salome Zurabishvili had hailed a victory for "European Georgia" after one exit poll showed the opposition in the lead.

After a poll saying the government had won, Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban congratulated Georgian Dream, saying on social media it had scored an "overwhelming victory".

- Alleged voting violations -

In Tbilisi, voters expressed diverging views of their country's future direction.

"Of course, I have voted for Europe. Because I want to live in Europe, not in Russia. So, I voted for change," said Alexandre Guldani, an 18-year-old student.

But Giga Abuladze, who works in a kindergarten run by the Orthodox Patriarchate, said "We should be friends with Russia -- and Europe".

"There is an opposition and so be it but it mustn't be disruptive. We need to help each other," the 58-year-old said, praising Georgian Dream's billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Opposition parties alleged incidents of ballot stuffing and intimidation during voting.

Zurabishvili said there had been "deeply troubling incidents of violence" at some polling stations.

A video circulated on social media showing a fight between dozens of men outside a polling station in suburban Tbilisi.

Another showed scuffles outside a campaign office in Tbilisi of the United National Movement (UNM), Georgia's main opposition force, founded by jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.

The were also videos of an alleged ballot stuffing incident in the southeastern village of Sadakhlo.

- Anti-Western rhetoric -

Georgian Dream said during the campaign it wanted a supermajority to pass a constitutional ban on all major opposition parties.

After the publication of the exit poll showing a win for the government, Ivanishvili hailed the party's "success in such a difficult situation".

"I assure you, our country will achieve great success in the next four years. We will do a lot," he said.

In power since 2012, the party initially pursued a liberal pro-Western policy agenda. But it has reversed course over the last two years.

Its campaign centred 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 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".

Georgian Dream's adoption of a controversial "foreign influence" law early this year targeting civil society sparked weeks of street protests and was criticised as a Kremlin-style measure to silence dissent.

The move prompted Brussels to freeze Georgia's EU accession process, while Washington imposed sanctions on dozens of Georgian officials.

The ruling party has also mounted a campaign against sexual minorities. It has adopted measures that ban LGBTQ "propaganda", nullify same-sex marriages conducted abroad, and outlaw gender reassignment.

The opposition coalition has signed up to a pro-European policy platform outlining far-reaching electoral, judicial and law enforcement reforms.

They agreed that if they won a majority they would form an interim multi-party government to push through the reforms before calling fresh elections.

W.Mansour--SF-PST