Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili casts his ballot in a parliamentary election seen as the first big challenge to his power after nearly a decade in office.<br/> <br />Tensions are high here after a prison abuse scandal emerged just weeks ago.<br/> <br />This is just some of video footage which purports to show prisoners being beaten and raped in a Tbilisi jail.<br/> <br />Pro-Western Saakashvili must step down vote next year, but constitutional changes will move the seat of power from president to prime minister.<br/> <br />So Saakashvili could become prime minister if he wins this poll.<br/> <br />He needs to head off a challenge led by this man, tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose Georgian Dream Movement could emerge with a majority over Saakashvili's United National Movement.<br/> <br />Ivanishvili accompanied his wife to the polling station to cast her ballot, but he refused to vote himself after the Georgian government stripped him of his citizenship last year.<br/> <br />He said this could be the first time in Georgian history that the government is changed through elections.<br/> <br />The grim video footage of the abused prison inmates has bolstered Ivanishvili's campaign, as his party makes the case that Saakashvili has become an undemocratic leader.<br/> <br />Summer opinion polling showed many voters remained undecided, but there have been no polls since the abuse scandal emerged.
