Georgians are casting ballots on October 30 in a second round of local elections amid a political crisis in the Caucasus country with ex-President and opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili on hunger strike in prison, RFE/RL's Georgian Service reports.
The vote pits Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili's ruling Georgian Dream party candidates against those from Saakashvili's opposition United National Movement (UNM) for mayoral posts in five large cities -- the capital, Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Poti, and Rustavi.
Mayoral posts in 15 smaller municipalities and 42 seats in two dozen local councils are also up for grabs.
In Tbilisi, the race pits incumbent Kakha Kaladze of Georgian Dream, who won nearly 45 percent of the vote in the first round on October 2, against ENM party chief Nika Melia, who garnered 34 percent.
The first round was overall won by the Georgian Dream -- a victory overshadowed by Saakashvili's arrest within hours of his return from eight years in self-exile abroad on October 1.
The opposition decried electoral fraud, while the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the ballot was marred by allegations of "intimidation, vote-buying, pressure, on candidates and voters."
The 53-year-old Saakashvili, who was president from 2004-2013, was sentenced in absentia to prison in 2018 for abuse of power and seeking to cover up evidence about the beating of an opposition member of parliament when he was president.
Saakashvili has said the charges against him are politically motivated.
Garibashvili this week urged voters to back Georgian Dream, calling Saakashvili's UNM an "anti-state and anti-national force."
In a statement released by his lawyers before polls opened, Saakashvili said the vote was "decisive for the Georgian democracy."
