Georgia's Saakashvili battles billionaire rival at polls

Georgians vote Monday in parliamentary polls as President Mikheil Saakashvili's party faces a billionaire-led opposition in a test of the ex-Soviet state's democracy overshadowed by a torture scandal. Outrage over revelations of the beating and rape of prison inmates, which sparked nationwide protests and international condemnation, has damaged Saakashvili's campaign and boosted the opposition coalition led by billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili. The bitter showdown between the powerful opponents, described by OSCE election monitors as "confrontational and rough", has raised fears of post-poll unrest amid a tense and highly polarised political atmosphere. Georgia's main backers, the United States and the European Union, have called for a fair vote and emphasised that democratic progress is crucial for the small Caucasus republic's ambitions to join Western institutions like NATO. Saakashvili has promised the "most free, most transparent" polls since Georgia became independent in 1991. Ivanishvili however has alleged that the electoral environment has been rigged in favour of the ruling party and has threatened protests if Western observers don't declare a fair vote. Both Saakashvili's United National Movement and Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream bloc have staged shows of strength in recent days with mass rallies that brought tens of thousands onto the streets. The polls are crucial for Georgia's future because its parliament and prime minister will become stronger and the presidency's powers will be significantly reduced under constitutional changes that come into force after Saakashvili's two-term rule ends in 2013. Ivanishvili accuses Saakashvili, whose party has dominated Georgia since the 2003 'Rose Revolution', of having established an authoritarian regime. "Saakashvili's system must be destroyed. The fate of the country is being decided at these elections," he told a huge rally Saturday. However the Georgian president says the billionaire would stop the government's modernisation programme and throw the country back to its corrupt past.' "On October 1, we should answer a simple question: do we want to go forward or do we want to turn back?" Saakashvili told his own mass rally Friday. Poverty and unemployment were key campaign issues, with the rivals offering populist promises of big spending on social welfare and job creation. Georgia, a mountainous country of 4.5 million people, is located on a strategic pipeline route that takes Caspian Sea oil and gas to Europe. Since independence from the Soviet Union, it has gone through economic collapse, civil war and repeated outbreaks of political unrest which have seen two presidents deposed. Its most recent conflict, a brief war with arch-foe Russia in 2008, saw it effectively lose two Kremlin-sponsored breakaway provinces where Moscow has now stationed thousands of troops, casting a shadow over Georgia's security. Both Saakashvili and Ivanishvili say they want EU and NATO membership for Georgia, although the billionaire also wants to mend relations with Russia. A total of 14 parties and two blocs are standing for the 150-seat parliament which is elected for a four-year term. The electoral system is a combination of single-mandate constituencies and seats determined by proportional representation. Voting, which starts at 0400 GMT and ends at 1600 GMT, will be monitored by international observers from the OSCE.