Tbilisi, Georgia ? Georgians voted Thursday in municipal elections that could serve as a bellwether for President Mikhail Saakashvili’s pro-Western policies amid a deepening diplomatic crisis with Russia.

The U.S.-educated Saakashvili faces an electorate increasingly disenchanted and impatient with the slow pace of economic reforms nearly three years after the Rose Revolution protests propelled him to power.

Georgia’s recent arrest of four Russian military officers on espionage charges also has sent relations with Moscow plummeting.

However, bread-and-butter issues such as the rising cost of living and persistent corruption ultimately may determine how much support Saakashvili has in his drive to modernize the country and integrate with the West.

Saakashvili praised Georgians for brisk turnout that saw more than 40 percent of the poor Caucasus Mountains nation’s 3.2 million registered voters cast ballots, saying it was “not a typical election.”