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		</div><p>Polls have closed after Georgians headed to the polls on Saturday in a ballot many citizens see as a make-or-break vote on the opportunity to join the European Union.</p>
<p>The pre-election campaign in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people has been dominated by foreign policy and marked by a bitter fight for votes and allegations of a smear campaign.</p>
<p>Some Georgians complained of intimidation and being pressured to vote for the ruling party, Georgian Dream, while the opposition accused the party of carrying out a “hybrid war” against its citizens.</p>
<p>A video shared on social media on Saturday showed a man stuffing ballots into a box at a polling station in the town of Marneuli, 26 miles south of Tbilisi.</p>
<p>Georgia’s interior ministry said it launched an investigation and the central election commission said a criminal case had been opened and that all results from the polling station would be declared invalid.</p>
<p>Ahead of the parliamentary election, Bidzina Ivanishvili – a shadowy billionaire who set up Georgian Dream and made his fortune in Russia – vowed again to ban opposition parties should his party win.</p>
<p>Georgian Dream will hold opposition parties “fully accountable under the full force of the law” for “war crimes” committed against the people of Georgia, Mr Ivanishvili said at a pro-government rally in the capital Tbilisi on Wednesday.</p>
<p>He did not explain what crimes he believes the opposition has committed.</p>
<p>Georgians will elect 150 lawmakers from 18 parties. If no party wins the 76 seats required to form a government for a four-year term, the president will invite the largest party to form a coalition.</p>
<p>Many believe the election may be the most crucial vote of their lifetimes; it will determine whether Georgia gets back on track to EU membership or embraces authoritarianism and falls into Russia’s orbit.</p>
<p>“It’s an existential election,” the Georgian president, Salome Zourabichvili, said.</p>
<p>About 80% of Georgians favour joining the EU according to polls and the country’s constitution obliges its leaders to pursue membership in that bloc and NATO.</p>
<p>But Brussels put Georgia’s bid for entry to the EU on hold indefinitely after the ruling party passed a “Russian law” cracking down on freedom of speech in June.</p>
<p>Many Georgians fear the party is dragging the country towards authoritarianism and killing off hopes it could join the EU.</p>
<p>The opposition parties have ignored Ms Zourabichvili’s request to unite into a single party but have signed up to her “charter” to carry out the reforms required by the EU to join.</p>
<p>At the EU summit last week, EU leaders said they have “serious concerns regarding the course of action taken by the Georgian government”.</p>
<p>Polls opened in the parliamentary election at 8am local time and will close 12 hours later.</p>
<p>Georgian Dream stands against three coalitions: the Unity National Movement, the Coalition for Changes Lelo, and Strong Georgia.</p>
<p>The Gakharia for Georgia party, set up by former prime minister Giorgi Gakharia, said it will not go into an alliance with anyone but will support the opposition to form a government.</p>
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