Georgia: 'Fresh beginning'

2004-01-05 21:11

Brussels - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana hailed on Monday the expected Georgian election winner Mikhail Saakashvili, and reiterated Europe's support for a "fresh beginning" in the long-unstable ex-Soviet republic.

"I congratulated today Mikhail Saakashvili on the preliminary election results and assured him of the continued support of the EU to Georgia in achieving the goals of stability, democracy and prosperity," he said.

The elections "marked an important step in the democratic progress of Georgia," Solana said, adding that the high voter turnout showed "the wish of the Georgian people for a fresh beginning."

Saakashvili, a 36-year-old US-educated lawyer, is poised for a landslide victory in the weekend presidential election, six weeks after ousting veteran Eduard Shevardnadze from power in a "rose revolution."

With ballots from 14% of polling stations counted, he had received 96.14% of the vote, election commission chief Zurab Chiaberashvili said.

Saakashvili will become Europe's youngest elected head of state once he assumes power in the former Soviet republic where Russia and the United States are both vying for influence.

- AFP