Electoral colleges open for female parliamentarians in a Georgia at the crossroads between the EU and Russia

MADRID 26 Oct. () –

The voting centers in Georgia opened their doors this Saturday at 8:00 a.m. (local time), beginning an election day in which more than three and a half million people are called to the polls to renew the 150 seats in Parliament. unicameral of the country, immersed in the debate between supporting the pro-Russian course of the governing Georgian Dream party or continuing on the path towards European integration, abandoned in recent years by the Executive.

In total, 3,111 electoral districts – including 67 abroad – have been enabled to receive the ballots of the 3,508,294 registered voters, who will have until 8:00 p.m. (local time) this Saturday to go and vote. Of the total voters, 95,910 are registered abroad, a figure that represents an increase of 45 percent compared to 2020, according to the Civil Georgia portal.

These elections have been presented for months as a confrontation between Georgian Dream – a center-left coalition founded in 2012 – and the United National Movement – grouped in the Unity coalition -, both with similar positions regarding accession. to the European Union and NATO.

However, in recent weeks other rivals have emerged such as the Strong Georgia alliance, center-left and markedly pro-European; the Coalition for Change, liberal and also in favor of European integration; and the Alliance of Patriots, far-right and eurosceptic.

The latest polls indicate that Sueño Georgiano would be the most voted formation, with just over 35 percent of the votes, and suggest that the main surprise could occur not so much in which formation is the most voted, but in which alliance will be able to establish itself as opposition to Georgian Dream. The Coalition for Change is on the rise in the polls, which give it around 20 percent of the votes, more than Unidad.