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Saakashvili New Georgian President
The Georgian Central Elections Commission declared January 9 that Mikheil Saakashvili is the winner of that country's presidential election, which took place on January 5. He received 52.21 percent of the vote. If he had received less than 50 percent plus one vote, he would have second-place candidate Levan Gachicheladze of the united opposition in a second round. Gachicheladze, who represented none opposition parties, is disputing the election results and has announced that he will begin a hunger strike.
Chairman of the Central Elections Commission Levan Tarkhnishvili announced that results from 3482 out of 3512 polling places had been tallied. The remaining votes represent less than 0.1 percent of the total and cannot substantially change the outcome of the election.
Businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili came in third in the election with 6.99 percent of the vote. He was followed by New Right Party candidate David Gamkrelidze with 4.02 percent, Labor Party candidate Shalva Natelashvili with 6.42 percent, Party of the Future candidate Georgy Maisashvili with 0.76 percent and Hope Party candidate Irina Sarishvili with 0.19 percent.
Gachicheladze is threatening to begin a hunger strike in front of the Georgian Public Television building immediately, demanding a second round of elections and live television access. He will be joined by several opposition leaders. The opposition also plans to hold a public meeting in downtown Tbilisi on January 13. The opposition accused the Central Elections Commission of “stealing” 500,000 votes from it on December 8 and was unswayed by admonitions of foreign observers to recognize the results.
www.kommersant.com
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Photo: Andrey Fedoryk
