Critics say there is a real fear in some areas that voting may not actually be secret.
“There is all this speculation about forcing people to vote for a particular party. At the end of the day, you vote alone and an electronic machine counts that vote,” Bochorishvili said.
Not far from central Tbilisi, Vano Chkhikvadze points to graffiti painted in red on the walls and ground outside the offices of the Civil Society Foundation.
He said he had been branded a traitor to the country by Prime Minister Irakli Kovacidze as mass protests erupted in Tbilisi and other metropolitan centers following the passage of the ‘foreign influence’ law.
“We got calls in the middle of the night. Even our children got calls. They were getting threats.”
Ahead of the vote, the EU warned that Georgian Dream’s actions “signify a turn toward authoritarianism.”
No matter who wins, the loser will not accept defeat easily.
