Initial results yesterday from municipal votes across Georgia pointed to victory for President Mikheil Saakashvili’s party in the first electoral test since he led the country into a losing war with neighboring Russia.
With returns from about 15 percent of the precincts counted, Saakashvili’s ruling United National Movement had two-thirds of the vote, the Central Election Commission said.
In Tbilisi, the capital, ruling party Mayor Gigi Ugulava was headed for re-election with nearly 54 percent of vote, the commission said on its Web site.
An election sweep would be a powerful boost for Saakashvili, who weathered persistent protests last year, but is up against an opposition that has struggled to capitalize on public disillusionment with the war and economic woes.
Saakashvili celebrated after exit poll results released late on Sunday gave the United National Movement about 60 percent of the vote in the nationwide municipal council elections.
“The final result of today is that democracy has won in Georgia,” Saakashvili told his supporters at party headquarters.
He said he expected the results to show the same level of support for his party as parliamentary polls in May 2008.
Irakly Alasania, an opposition leader who challenged Ugulava in Tbilisi, said he did not trust the exit poll results. Alasania was second in the mayoral race with just under 20 percent, the Central Election Commission said.
The first-ever direct vote for mayor in Tbilisi, home to more than a quarter of Georgia’s 4.5 million people, was seen as an early test for potential successors to Saakashivili, who is scheduled to step down in 2013 after a decade in power.
“The victory will provide serious support for the ruling party and their candidate in 2013,” Tbilisi-based analyst Archil Gegeshidze said.
Opposition parties said the elections were marred by problems with voter lists, pressure on observers and illegal campaigning by the ruling party. The election commission said no major irregularities had been registered.
Europe’s top election watchdog, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, was scheduled to deliver its report on the vote later yesterday.
Analysts said they did not expect serious disturbances even from the most radical opposition parties, who were threatening to take people to the streets if the vote was deemed unfair.
In the run-up to the vote, some opposition leaders had called for closer ties with Moscow, which imposed an embargo on Georgian wine and mineral water, cut transport links in 2006 and recognized Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions after the five-day war in August 2008.
An opinion poll before the vote showed jobs and poverty topped the list of voter concerns. The economy has shrunk 3.9 percent last year, but is expected to grow by up to 5 percent this year.
Saakashvili says he has created a model democracy in a region dominated by rigged polls and long-serving authoritarian leaders. Critics accuse him of monopolizing power, marginalizing the opposition and manipulating the media.
The opposition does not have a coherent or united platform and has found it difficult to present voters with an attractive alternative to Saakashvili.
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