MOSCOW, Jan. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The Georgian Central Electoral Commission announced Thursday that Mikhail Saakashvili was the absolute winner in the country's Jan. 4 presidential election, Russian Itar-Tass news agency reported.

    Saakashvili beat other candidates in the presidential election by getting as much as 96.27 percent of the votes with the overall turnout of some 88 percent, the commission said.

    Saakashvili is scheduled to be sworn in on Jan. 25. He has pledged to fight corruption, combat poverty and restore central control over the restive regions of the former Soviet republic.

    Saakashvili, 36, a US-educated lawyer, led a mass protest that forced former President Eduard Shevardnadze to step down late in November. Enditem