Georgia reformer leading vote
2004-01-04 21:22
Tbilisi - Mikhail Saakashvili, the 36-year-old reformer who ousted Georgia's veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze in a "rose revolution", was on Sunday on the verge of assuming the helm of the former Soviet republic after an apparently decisive win in a presidential election.
The official vote count had just begun but a reliable private exit poll gave Saakashvili, a US-educated lawyer, 86% of the vote, while none of his five rivals obtained even double digits.
Saakashvili spearheaded a wave of protests which six weeks ago forced the resignation of Shevardnadze - the 75-year-old best known in the West for helping end the Cold War as Soviet foreign minister.
Moments after polling stations closed on Sunday night, the beaming frontrunner was already celebrating his win.
"I want to thank the whole Georgian nation," he said. "It is not just my victory but the victory of the Georgian people."
"We have got a very important mandate from the people to clean up Georgia, to make it peaceful and prosperous, to make Georgia efficient, investment-friendly, to consolidate power."
"We will do our best to promote these aims... You cannot do everything in one day. We will go step by step."
His fetching Dutch wife, Sandra, by his side, he laid out a bold programme of reform to lift the country out of the quagmire of chaos and poverty which characterised Shevardnadze's rule and ultimately turned his people against him.
Saakashvili said his priorities would be waging war on corruption, rescuing the economy, bringing separatist territories back under control, embracing Europe and the United States and mending the fractious relations with neighbouring Russia.
His first steps as president will be watched closely by both Russia and the US, rivals for influence over the small but strategically important country.
Georgia is a crossroads for the export of crude oil from the massive new fields of the Caspian Sea to international markets.
Sunday's election was billed by the international community as a test of Georgia's new rulers' democratic credentials.
They appeared to have passed muster. There were none of the reports of ballot-rigging that marred votes under Shevardnadze's rule.
Turnout was unexpectedly high, with 88 of voters who registered before Sunday casting their ballots, election officials said. The first official results are due early on Monday morning.
Observers have said the presidential election was a shoe-in from the start. Saakashvili's main rivals boycotted the election and the contenders on the ballot paper were political featherweights.