Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who maintains a pro-Western stance and is at odds with her country’s government, has denounced “extremely disturbing” acts of violence on the sidelines of crucial parliamentary elections held today that are expected to determine Georgia’s European or non-European future.

“I want to highlight the extremely worrying incidents of violence that are occurring in many polling stations,” she denounces in a message on social media.

Videos posted on the Internet show violent scuffles on the sidelines of the parliamentary election voting.

With today’s election, Georgians are being asked to decide not only on the next government, but also on whether to effectively mandate a resumption of the European Union accession process or turn to Moscow.

The process was “frozen” in July. It was Brussels’ response to the Georgian government’s decision to vote in favour of the law on “foreign influence” in the media, a law seen by Brussels and the opposition in Georgia as restricting freedom of speech. Along with the accession process, the allocation of 30 million in European funds to Georgia was also “frozen”.

The law is seen as evidence of Russian influence in the country, as the ruling coalition under the Georgian Dream party makes no secret of its sympathy for Moscow and has partially restored relations with Russia after the 2008 war.