Georgia Votes in Local Polls As Opposition Urges 'Last-Chance' Protest

The ruling Georgian Dream party is facing its first electoral test since a disputed parliamentary poll a year ago plunged the Black Sea nation into turmoil and froze prospects for closer integration with the European Union.

The normally low-key local elections have acquired high stakes after months of raids on independent media, the introduction of laws restricting civil society and the jailing of dozens of opponents and activists.

Imprisoned reformist ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili has urged supporters to protest on Election Day for what he called the "last chance" to save Georgian democracy.

"There are moments when action is needed here and now," he wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

"Let's take to the streets on October 4 and stand our ground to the end. Freedom -- now or never!"

"Many more people will be arrested and the rest driven out," he warned. "Total hopelessness will take hold and the West will finally give up on us."

Opera star-turned-activist Paata Burchuladze has called for a "national assembly" rally outside parliament, casting it as a peaceful transfer of power from Georgian Dream.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze accused protest organizers of "radicalism".

"Their attempt at revolution will definitely fail," he said.

"Therefore, we want to warn everyone once again: don't end up spending many years behind bars."

On the streets of the capital, Tbilisi, opinions were split ahead of the planned protest.

"Georgian Dream is wrecking our democracy and our European future. They have got to go," architect Levan Baramidze, 31, told AFP.

But schoolteacher Guliko Archvadze, 50, was pessimistic.

"We were in the streets for months by the tens of thousands and nothing changed," she said.

"One more huge rally won't bring down Georgian Dream."

She said the situation in Georgia was "tragic and desperate".

Rights groups say some 60 people -- among them key opposition figures, journalists and activists -- have been jailed over the past year.

Amnesty International said the elections were "taking place amid severe political reprisals against opposition figures and civil society".

"With opposition leaders jailed and civil society organizations under attack... people's rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly are being crushed," it said.

Georgian Dream has been in power since 2012.

It is controlled by billionaire former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, who voted in Tbilisi early on Saturday morning, surrounded by cameras, an AFP reporter saw.

Georgian Dream initially presented itself as a liberal alternative to Saakashvili's reformist camp.

Georgian Dream says it is safeguarding "stability" in the country of four million while a Western "deep state" seeks to drag Georgia into the war in Ukraine with the help of opposition parties.

Analysts say Georgian Dream's blunt pitch -- with the opposition, war; with us, peace -- resonates in rural areas and is amplified by disinformation.

A recent survey by the Institute of Social Studies and Analysis put the party's approval rating at about 36 percent, against 54 percent for opposition groups.

The European Union has sanctioned several Georgian Dream party officials over previous crackdowns on protestors.

It has also warned it could suspend Georgians' right to visa-free travel to the EU unless the government improves the rule of law and commits to protect fundamental rights.

But the opposition itself is bitterly divided.

Some parties, including Saakashvili's United National Movement, are backing a plan to boycott the local votes and stage mass demonstrations.

Others -- such as Lelo and For Georgia -- will stand candidates and have downplayed the prospects for the rally.