Georgia's opposition complained of "serious violations" in a snap presidential poll yesterday, but elections officials and representatives of incumbent Mikheil Saakashvili dismissed the accusation.
"We have the problems we expected. We have seen many serious violations," said one of the opposition's leaders, Tina Khidasheli.
She said the opposition had filmed numerous instances of people voting two or three times and that some ballot boxes had been tampered with by election officials.
She said that election officials were refusing to register the complaints of opposition representatives at polling stations.
"The authorities are trying to remove any legal basis for contesting the election," Khidasheli said.
Leading opposition candidate Levan Gachechiladze also said "there are violations."
But the Central Election Commission (CEC) denied there was trouble.
"The elections are proceeding in a calm atmosphere without any serious violations," Irakli Porchkhidze, a spokesman for the CEC, said in televised comments.
Saakashvili's spokesman, David Bakradze, accused the opposition of inventing violations in order to justify protests after the vote if they lose.
"The opposition is saying there are mass violations but the absolute majority of these claims have been checked and not confirmed," he said. "The political forces that are trying to discredit the election are in fact discrediting Georgia."
An independent Georgian election monitoring group, New Generation/New Initiative, also reported no major problems.
"All violations that took place so far are of a technical nature and in general the electoral process is proceeding in normal and stable conditions," the group's head, Koki Ionatamishvili, said at a press conference.
Hundreds of international observers have descended on Georgia for the vote, called after violent unrest in November. Diplomats have warned that Georgia's hopes of closer ties with the West hinge on the poll being conducted fairly.
The main international monitoring group, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is to issue a report on the vote today.
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