Georgians flood streets of capital Tbilisi to seek release of jailed ex-president and opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili who was arrested in early October upon his return from exile in Ukraine.
The ruling Georgian Dream party led by billionaire ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, which won the October 31 polls with a two-percent margin, has flatly denied the accusations of electoral fraud.
Polls in the country of nearly four million people regularly spark mass protests, with only one orderly transition of power after a parliamentary vote in 2012.
More than 3.5 million people are eligible to vote in the election, and both candidates - Georgian Dream-backed Salome Zurabishvili and opposition Grigol Vashadze - have promised to lead Georgia closer to membership in the European Union and NATO.
The hotly contested race pits ex-French ambassador and Georgia's former foreign minister Salome Zurabishvili, supported by the ruling Georgian Dream party, against opposition leader Grigol Vashadze, also a former foreign minister.
Polls suggest the ruling Georgian Dream party, funded by the country's richest man, is likely to win. But they also show strong support for the opposition United National Movement (UNM), and that many voters are undecided.
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