Q&A: Georgia presidential election Published duration 24 October 2013

image copyright AP image caption Political tensions have often spilled onto Georgia's streets

Georgians vote on Sunday to elect a successor to strongly pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is stepping down after 10 years in power.

The frontrunner is a close ally of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, Mr Saakashvili's bitter rival, while the candidate of the incumbent president's party is polling a distant second.

Mr Ivanishvili's win in the parliamentary elections last year ushered in the former Soviet republic's first legal transfer of power. He himself intends to resign within weeks of this vote and leave public office.

image copyright Reuters image caption Posters of two frontrunners - Nino Burjanadze (top) and Giorgi Margvelashvili - in Tbilisi

BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.