TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia's president is warning that the upcoming parliamentary election may threaten to take the country back to a dark past of organized crime and Russian domination.
Mikhail Saakashvili's party, the United National Movement, now holds nearly 80 percent of the seats in parliament, but is facing a tough challenge in Monday's vote from Georgian Dream, a coalition formed by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire businessman who made his fortune in Russia.
Speaking to tens of thousands of supporters Friday night, Saakashvili cast the vote as a choice between moving forward or falling back into the past. After Saakashvili's second and last term ends next year, the party that has a majority in parliament will name the prime minister, who will acquire many of the powers now held by the president.
