Georgia voted on Sunday in a presidential election likely to hand victory to Mikhail Saakash-vili, who ousted Eduard Shevard-nadze in a popular revolution on pledges to restore stability and prosperity.
The election, called swiftly after Shevardnadze resigned in November, is under scrutiny by the West and neighboring Russia, both keen to cement their influence in an ex-Soviet state seen as a vital transit link between the Middle East and Europe.
It is also a chance for Georgia, a volatile Caucasus country which was torn by civil war and separatism after the 1991 Soviet collapse, to prove its democratic credentials after rights groups criticized last year's parliamentary poll for fraud.
Polling stations in Georgia's 75 districts opened at 8am and were due to close 12 hours later.
Saakashvili needs 50 percent plus one vote to avoid a runoff and win outright to crown a successful drive for the presidency that started when he led thousands on the streets to oust former mentor and ex-Soviet foreign minister Shevardnadze.
"I did not sleep last night because I so wanted to vote... I am voting for Saakashvili because he gave us hope," Nelli Amvrosova, 58, said, standing in a queue of seven to enter a polling station as dawn broke over the capital Tbilisi.
"We were like the dead. We were asleep and now we have woken up. There is hope for us," she said, walking into the white stuccoed building of Tbilisi's Palace of Youth, where silver tinsel and balloons left over from New Year hung from the ceiling.
Fighting on an anti-corruption platform, the only threat to Saakashvili's all-but-ensured win is a low turnout following the New Year's holiday. On Saturday Saakashvili and election officials called on Georgians to turn out en masse.
Facing little competition from five other candidates -- three lawyers, a former regional governor and the head of an organization for the disabled -- Saakashvili has vowed to use his victory to crack down on corruption, open up markets to investors and restore central control over Georgia's restive regions.
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