Georgian former president and
presidential candidate Mikhail Saakashvil speaks to supporters as they
celebrate the main independent exit poll announcement in Tbilisi Jan. 5,
2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
TBILISI, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Georgian former president
Mikhail Saakashvili won the country's presidential election Saturday, an exit
poll showed.
The exit poll, which gave Saakashvili 53.8 percent of
the vote, was based on statistics till 8:00 p.m. (1600 GMT), before the official
end of the 12-hour voting.
Previous exit polls, based on statistics at 4:00 p.m.
(1200 GMT), also showed him winning more than half of the vote.
Saakashvili, who swept to power in 2004, called the
snap election following clashes between police and protestors last November and
then resigned in order to run as a candidate.
"According to the exit polls and all the data we have
won, although as a democratic party we should wait for the Central Election
Commission's final results," Saakashvili said in a speech to his supporters.
He also called for reconciliation in the country,
saying, "I'm extending my hand to those who voted for me and to those who took
part in the elections."
Georgia's election authorities were not expected to
announce the first preliminary results until later on Sunday.
Georgia's presidential candidate Mikhail
Saakashvili leaves a voting booth at a polling station during presidential
elections in Tbilisi Jan. 5, 2008. Georgian former president Mikhail
Saakashvili has won Saturday's presidential election by 53.8 percent of
votes and his supporters have started to celebrate his victory.
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
Under Georgian law, a 50 percent plus one vote will ensure the victory of a candidate.
Business tycoon Levan Gachechiladze, a leading competitor of Saakashvili, won 28.3 percent and the other five opposition candidates won less than 20 percent of ballots in total, the exit poll indicated.
The opposition called for protests Sunday, saying the
vote was rigged and the exit poll falsified.
"We will wait for results and documentation from
polling stations, based on which we will celebrate the victory as Saakashvili is
defeated in Tbilisi and many other regions of Georgia," local media quoted an
opposition spokesperson as saying.
Gachechiladze, backed by a nine-party opposition
coalition, claimed his distrust of the exit polls and called on Georgians to
take to the streets to protest against the election results, saying there was a
"dictatorship" in the former Soviet nation.
Meanwhile, thousands of supporters of Saakashvili
gathered at his campaign office for celebration and dozens of mini buses were
parked outside a gym in downtown Tbilisi.
Supporters of Georgian presidential
candidate Mikhail Saakashvili waves flags during a rally, celebrating the
exit polls results announcement in Tbilisi, Georgia, early Sunday, Jan. 6,
2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
Dozens of motorcades with national flags sticking out were cruising around
the mountainous capital and petrol police vehicleswere frequently seen on the
street on the Orthodox Christmas eve.
If no candidate wins in the first round, a second
round of voting between the top two candidates will follow two weeks later. The
candidate who wins a majority in the run-off wins the election.
Two think-tanks, the Caucasus Institute for Peace,
Democracy and Development and the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and
International Studies, have joined with the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs
and government-funded Ilia Chavchavadze State University to carry out the exit
polls.
Some 46 percent of the 3.3 million voters cast their
ballots in the election till 5:00 p.m. (1300 GMT), the Central Election
Commission said.
There's no threshold for presidential election in the
country.
Meanwhile, exit polls of two referendums held on the
sidelines of the voting indicated that some 61 percent of voters are in favor of
joining NATO, and some 64 percent of voters agree to holda parliamentary
election in Spring this year.
TBILISI, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Georgian voters on Saturday
began casting their ballots in the presidential election in which former
presidential Mikhail Saakashvili is vying for the nation's top job against six
other candidates amid opposition claims that the vote was rigged. Full story
TBILISI,
Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing presidential election in Georgia is "free and
fair", former president Mikhail Saakashvili said on Saturday after casting his
ballot in the No. 19 polling station in the capital city of the Caucasus nation.
Full story
TBILISI, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Georgian former president
Mikhail Saakashvili promised here on Friday to relieve poverty and improve
living standards during his final campaigning before Saturday's presidential
election.
"A Georgia without poverty, it's my program," Saakashvili
told a last gathering of supporters in a downtown gym before campaigning is to
be barred from Friday night.
Levan Gachechiladze (C), opposition
candidate in Georgia presidential election, talks to the media as he
presents his presidential programme, outside Tbilisi, capital of Georgia,
Jan. 3, 2008.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
Opposition leaders also made last minute statements
broadcast on local television networks. Most of them blamed the alleged
dictatorship of Saakashvili and vowed to promote democracy and improve living
standards.Full story
TBILISI, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Georgia will ensure a
fair, open, transparent and democratic presidential election, the head of the
Caucasus nation's election watchdog said on Friday.
"The election will be held in a fair environment,"
Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairman Levan Tarkhnishvili told a press
conference in the capital Tbilisi. Full story
