MOSCOW: Supporters of Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili are set to dominate parliamentary elections tomorrow, and seal the first stage of the "velvet revolution" that brought Europe's youngest head of state to power last December.
Mr Saakashvili led peaceful protests that ousted Mr Eduard Shevardnadze, after a decade in power that dragged Georgia into a mire of poverty and corruption.
The US-educated lawyer's party faces little opposition tomorrow, but many eyes will be on the restive Adzharia province where he was prevented from entering this month, prompting a tense stand-off that threatened to explode into civil war.
The pugnacious Adzharian leader, Mr Aslan Abashidze, runs his Black Sea region like a fiefdom, but has agreed to let the election go ahead on his territory. His party is likely to come in second, paving the way for continued tension.
The young leader found huge public backing for a pledge to end corruption among officials and businessmen, and Georgians have been stunned by reports of almost daily raids against prominent figures.
"The time for Al Capones in Georgia is over," Mr Saakashvili said this week, amid a series of high-profile arrests that have netted former government ministers and even Mr Shevardnadze's son-in-law.
Georgian officials said yesterday that Washington was to finance a fund to improve ministers' wages, in the hope of removing the temptation to take bribes.