Georgians to vote in last direct election for president

TBILISI, GEORGIA

Sunday’s election will be the last time residents of the former Soviet republic of Georgia get to cast a ballot for president — that’s if any of the 25 candidates gets an absolute majority.

Opinion polls suggest that none of the candidates will exceed the 50 percent needed for a first-round victory and that the country on the Black Sea will have to choose between Sunday’s two top candidates in a runoff that would be held no later than Dec. 1.

Under constitutional changes that began in 2010, Georgia is transitioning to being a parliamentary coun- try. After the upcoming president’s six-year term ends, future heads of state will be chosen by delegates. The presidency’s powers already have been substantially reduced, with the prime minister becoming the country’s most powerful politician.

Most polls show the top three candidates as Salome Zurabishvili, Grigol Vashadze and David Bakradze. Each served a stint as Georgia’s foreign minister during the presidency of nowexiled Mikheil Saakashvili.

Zurabishvili was sacked in 2005 amid disagreements with parliament. She is running as an independent but is backed the powerful Georgian Dream party funded by controversial billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, a Saakashvili foe. Georgian Dream holds an overwhelm- ing majority in the parliament.

Zurabishvili, however, has been heavily criticized for her contention that Georgia started the 2008 war with Russia. Some Georgians look with suspicion at her foreign background: born in France, she did not visit Georgia until she was in her 30s and she once served as a French diplomat.

Zurabishvili counters that this background is a strong qualification for Georgian president as the country seeks closer ties with the European Union. Georgia also is a strong U.S. ally and has ambitions to join NATO.

“My European experience of what it means to develop in democratic society, while knowing what is Georgian society,” can be useful, she told The Associated Press.