At the moment the images were released, Mr. Saakashvili’s party seemed likely to win a comfortable majority of the vote, and it is unclear whether that has changed. The government responded quickly by condemning the abuse and dismissing top officials, and some voters remain suspicious about the politically charged timing of the clips’ release. But now the Rose Revolution team has new worries — immediate ones, about whether the election on Monday will prompt opposition protests, and long-term ones, like the university students who say the prison abuse footage has caused a political awakening.

“I logged off my computer and I couldn’t speak,” said Baski Asatiani, 24, the lead singer of Landmark, which recorded the anthem of defiance, “Rape Me.” “After a moment of shock, it was also anger — anger at myself, at the things the government could not control that were happening. Maybe they were already happening a long time ago, but when it was in front of our eyes, it was like we all bore responsibility for this. We felt guilty.”

Mr. Saakashvili’s dramatic plans have sometimes cost him. He has many critics in Tbilisi, where public workers lost their jobs in government restructuring. Some blame him for attacking Russian-backed separatists in the enclave of South Ossetia in 2008, a conflict that left a fifth of Georgia’s territory under Russian control.

Mr. Saakashvili made a last herculean push to mobilize his voters on Friday at a rally in Tbilisi’s largest stadium. Georgian flags rippled in all directions, and young girls in white track suits bounded across the field, as if it were the opening ceremony at the Olympics.

Accompanied by the heraldic strains of an orchestra, speaker after speaker sounded the central theme of the campaign — the undeniable improvements that have occurred since 2003, when electricity shortages blanketed the country in darkness and bribes were a routine part of life. Georgia has also had an explosion of construction and road construction.