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TBILISI : Georgians voted Saturday in a snap presidential election called by fiery reformer Mikheil Saakashvili to quell unrest and attempt to relaunch his pro-Western presidency.
Saakashvili, 40, faced six challengers in the poll, which opened under heavy snowfall across the tiny, but strategic ex-Soviet republic of five million people on Russia's southern border.
The election, called a year early in response to violent clashes between police and protesters in November, was Saakashvili's sternest test since winning power in the country's peaceful 2003 Rose Revolution.
Opinion polls indicate he led the field, although not necessarily by enough to avoid a run-off round in two weeks.
Opposition candidates have threatened not to accept a Saakashvili victory, raising fears of new street protests and instability in a country crossed by a major US-backed oil pipeline.
Following a campaign marred by allegations of government electoral violations and opposition coup plots, Saakashvili appealed for unity.
"It's a chance for us to show the whole world that Georgia is a vibrant democracy," he said after voting in the mountainous capital of Tbilisi.
"We are committed to... Georgia as a beacon of democracy," he said.
But his main challenger, wine entrepreneur Levan Gachechiladze, 43, echoed other opposition leaders in saying "there are violations."
Georgians -- including five of the six presidential challengers -- overwhelmingly back Saakashvili's push to end centuries of Russian dominance and to integrate with the West.
A huge "yes" vote was expected in a non-binding referendum also held Saturday on joining NATO.
Yet many are disenchanted with Saakashvili, who says the November crackdown and nine-day state of emergency he called had prevented a coup plot by billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, himself a candidate in Saturday's election.
At a central Tbilisi polling station, Nodar Zardiashvili, a 49-year-old engineer, said he voted for Saakashvili "because he is doing the right thing by taking the country into NATO and the European Union."
Nino Saladze, an accountant, said she had voted for Gachechiladze, who promises to abolish the presidency and turn Georgia into a parliamentary republic.
"We've had enough of Saakashvili. November was the last straw," Saladze, 51, said.
Hundreds of foreign election observers were deployed.
A report by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) expected Sunday on the conduct of the election could be crucial in determining how much support there is for opposition street protests.
"People are afraid, not only about who will win the elections, but about what might happen after," said Gia Nodia, an analyst for the Caucasus Institute of Peace, Democracy and Development.
Washington, the European Union and former imperial master Russia are watching closely, mindful of Georgia's growing strategic importance.
Major US-backed oil and gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea to Turkey run through Georgia, bypassing Russia to the north and Iran to the south. Saakashvili has also defied Russian pressure in applying for NATO membership.
Moscow punished Georgia's pro-Western course with sweeping economic sanctions in 2006 and also supports armed rebels who control two separatist regions of Georgia -- Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi are likely to rise further after the NATO referendum.
Polls were due to close at 8:00 pm (1600 GMT), with partial results being published hours later.
- AFP/so/ls
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