Polling stations in the Caucasus republic opened on Sunday, and some 3.5 million eligible voters are to cast their ballots.
The Western-backed incumbent president has ruled the country for a decade. Georgia’s president can only serve two terms.
In the opinion polls former Education Minister Giorgi Margvelashvili was well ahead of ex-parliament speaker David Bakradze from Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM) party.
Margvelashvili has said that he is certain to receive a majority of the votes and if he failed he would refuse to take part in a run-off election.
Constitutional changes are expected to come into effect in Georgia following the presidential election. The reforms would shift major powers from the new president to the prime minister.
Ivan Ivanishvili, the current prime minister, is a rival to Saakashvili and the leader of the ruling coalition. He has promised to keep his pledge to nominate a successor as premier and to step down next month.
Georgia, an ally to the United States, has gone through civil war, economic collapse and political turmoil since it became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.
CAH/HSN/HMV
Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/10/27/331512/presidential-election-begins-in-georgia/
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