Polls have closed in Georgian municipal elections, a day after the dramatic arrest of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who called from custody for the country's "peaceful transition to a genuine democracy".
An exit poll by Ipsos Global pollster commissioned by the pro-opposition Mtavari TV on Saturday showed opposition parties won 61.4 percent of the votes, against 38.6 percent for the ruling party.
A rival exit poll by the local pollster, Gorbi, prepared for the pro-government Imedi TV, showed opposition parties garnering 52.4 percent of the vote with the ruling party on 47.6 percent.
The EU mediated an inter-party agreement in May, under which the ruling party pledged to hold snap parliamentary elections if it wins less than 43 percent of the vote on Saturday.
The detention on Friday of Georgia's foremost opposition figure upon his return from exile raised the stakes in the polls seen as a key test for the increasingly unpopular Georgian Dream ruling party.
In comments to AFP through a representative, who visited him in prison on Saturday, Saakashvili said "Georgia needs a peaceful transition towards a genuine democracy where political opponents are not locked up on falsified charges or forced into exile."
"I am not seeking any political office, I am just determined to fight to the end against the oligarchic rule which kills Georgian democracy," he said.
He was referring to the former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, a powerful oligarch and ruling party founder who is widely believed to be calling the shots in Georgia despite holding no political office.
Founder of Georgia's main opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM) and president between 2003-2013, Saakashvili, 53, said on Friday he had secretly returned from Ukraine, where he heads a Ukrainian government agency steering reforms.
