Soviet Georgians Flock to Polls to Vote for Secession : Nationalism: The republic’s people ‘were always against the Communists,’ President Gamsakhurdia says.

Voters in the southern Soviet republic of Georgia went to the polls with a vengeance Sunday to vote for independence for their mountainous homeland and to rid it of the Soviet system of government under which they have chafed for three generations.

A staggering 94% of Georgia’s 3.4 million voters participated, according to officials here, and the results from the first districts showed that 88% to 93% supported the republic’s independence.

“I voted for freedom for Georgia!” Zigfrid Bebia, 48, an agricultural specialist, said after casting his ballot at the Tbilisi Secondary School No. 61. “This is the only chance we have in our lives to openly express our greatest desire. Every Georgian’s dream is for his country to be independent.”

At another polling station, several hundred people burst into applause when Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Georgia’s dissident-turned-president, emerged from his black sedan and cast his vote for secession from the Soviet Union.

“We expect the overwhelming majority to vote for independence,” Gamsakhurdia declared. “It will be a juridical document that proves the people want independence.”

Complete results from the referendum were not expected until today or Tuesday, but Georgia’s charismatic president said there will be no surprises.

“We’ve prepared for this change for years,” Gamsakhurdia said. “Georgian people were always against the Communists, but for decades they used terror to keep the people down.”

Georgians also elected representatives to municipal councils, which will run local governments along with prefects appointed by the Georgian legislature. The legislature was elected in October in the Soviet Union’s first multi-party elections.

“Today, Soviet power perished in Georgia’s villages, towns and cities,” said Roman Gotsiridze, deputy chairman of the legislature’s economic reform committee. “It has taken place without a battle because no one wanted the old Soviet power anymore.”

The election will eliminate the Soviet system designed by Bolshevik leader V. I. Lenin, under which councils of workers and farmers--known as soviets--were elected but did little more than rubber-stamp the decisions of the Communist Party. Although the party yielded its constitutional monopoly on political power a year ago, it had retained control of most soviets here until now.

In place of the soviet system, the legislature appointed 90 prefects to run most aspects of the local government. The municipal councils of between 50 and 100 people elected Sunday will have to confirm the prefects’ decisions.

“At first glance, the prefect system seems to have too much executive power, but it’s thousands of times less authoritarian than the Communist Party system,” Gotsiridze said.

A member of the minority Popular Front party, Gotsiridze said: “It is a good structure for a transition phase. It destroys the old Communist Party structure and is an embryo for a future system of municipally elected officials.”

Georgian officials said they chose the prefect system because they need strong parliamentary power to control the armed bands of political extremists, ethnic problems and the growing chaos in their society.

“The prefect will have a lot of power,” said Vice President Ahahi Asatiani. “But if the council is against him, he should get kicked out. It will differ greatly from the soviet system because the municipal councils will meet once a week and control what the prefect does.”

At the polls, some people seemed confused by the new system but were willing to try it.

“The new prefect system is new to us, but I believe people we trust will be elected,” said Leyla Berishvili, 43, a teacher of Russian. “It will be 100% better than the Communist system.”

Others were more cautious.

“These people are promising good things,” said Inesa Sosnovaya, 52, a translator of French. “But the Communists also promised a lot and they gave nothing. It’s hard to believe anymore.”

Gamsakhurdia said officials will follow up on the referendum.

“After the referendum, we will make more diplomatic contacts and try to enter the United Nations,” he said. “We will be more active in the international arena and demand to be recognized.”

Despite the new system of local government, the democratically elected legislature and a referendum on independence, Georgia is not free of the Kremlin.

About 120,000 Soviet troops are in Georgia, according to Gamsakhurdia, and the republic remains completely integrated in the Soviet Union’s planned economy.

The referendum vote is expected to add momentum to Georgia’s struggle for freedom from Moscow.

Asatiani, who acts as Georgia’s liaison with the central government in Moscow, predicted that the republic will declare full independence within a year.