Georgian Dream's billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, the opposition, and foreign diplomats had cast the election as a watershed moment that would decide if Georgia moves closer to the West or leans back towards Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
Mr Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s, came to power in 2012 advocating pro-Western views, alongside a pragmatic policy towards Russia.
But he has since soured on the West, accusing a “Global War Party” of seeking to drag Georgia into war with Russia, even as he insists Georgia is on course to join the European Union.
If victory for Mr Ivanishvili’s ruling party is confirmed, it would be a blow to the EU’s hopes of bringing more former Soviet republics into its orbit. Moldova on 20 October voted by a very slim majority to support EU accession.
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