Georgia votes in local polls on Saturday as the country's opposition urges thousands to take to the streets in a "last chance" to save democracy, with the government warning of a tough response to those it casts as seeking "revolution", France 24 reports.
The ruling Georgian Dream party faces its first electoral test since a disputed parliamentary poll a year ago plunged the Black Sea nation into turmoil and froze prospects for closer EU integration.
The normally low-key municipal vote has acquired high stakes after months of raids on independent media, restrictive laws on civil society, and jailings of opponents and activists.
Imprisoned reformist ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili has urged supporters to take to the streets on election day for what he said would be the "last chance" to save Georgian democracy.
"There are moments when action is needed here and now... Let's come on October 4 and stand our ground to the end. Freedom -- now or never," he wrote Thursday on Facebook.
"Many more people will be arrested and the rest driven out... total hopelessness will take hold, and the West will finally give up on us."
Opera star-turned-activist Paata Burchuladze has urged a "national assembly" rally outside parliament, casting it as a peaceful transfer of power from Georgian Dream.
