People have been queueing from 8am this morning to vote at the Georgian Embassy in Donnybrook in Dublin.
Some 1,745 people have registered to vote, and they have travelled from all over Ireland to do so in person on embassy grounds, with hundreds having turned out by lunchtime today.
Officials at the embassy say these numbers are close to ten times the numbers who voted in previous elections.
The embassy is the only place where people who have pre-registered can vote.
“These elections are reckoned to be one of the most important elections since the country of Georgia declared independence 33 years ago,” said Tamara Samkana, chairperson of the 13-member Parliamentary Election Committee.
Overseeing things at the polling station in Dublin this morning, she said voting had been intensive, with no issues reported so far.
“Everything is going quite smoothly, which we are happy about,” she said, adding that when polling closes at 8pm tonight, all of these votes will be counted and sent back to be included in the central poll in Georgia.
“The queue hasn’t stopped since this morning, since we opened at 8 o’clock as prescribed,” she said.
She added that people had been coming from counties including Cork, Galway, Waterford, Kerry and Donegal.
“That shows the will is strong to participate,” she said.
Marina Shaverdashvili said she hoped people voting today would make “a good choice”.
Despite living in Ireland for a long time, she said this was the first time that she had managed to register to vote in the elections in Georgia.
Speaking outside the embassy after casting her vote, she said: “This time they were very organised with everything and I am very happy.”
Maggei Kurivichrrishoili travelled all the way from Killarney in County Kerry by train to vote today and she said it was good to see so many people from Georgia in one place.
“We need to be in Europe and some didn’t want this, some [do want this], and that’s why it’s very important,” she said.
Read more: What’s at stake in Georgia’s election?
Kakhi Gigauri, who has been living in Dublin for two years, said this is the most important election the country has ever had.
“We, Georgian people need to decide where we want to go, to Europe or to Russia,” he explained.
Commenting on Brussels freezing Georgia’s EU accession process he said: “The relationships between Georgia and the EU are suspended and we are so worried because of that, but the power is in people, so that I hope the Geogian people are wise to decide that our future, our support is in Europe.”
Eka Tevzadze said she is an Irish citizen now and she would also like to see Georgia in the EU.
Looking at how the election is being viewed in Georgia, she said: “For the government, they’re thinking that it’s about peace and war. For the opposition, it’s about Russia or democracy and Europe, so for the ordinary people, it’s kind of confusing.
“But for the Georgian people who live in Europe and who know the rules of Europe, it’s about the power to push the country to Europe,” she said, adding that Georgians know what it means to have lived in the Soviet Union.
“Georgia deserves to be with the European countries, it’s a rich, historic country,” she said.
