GEORGIA: Mr Mikhail Saakashvili claimed overwhelming victory in Georgia's presidential election yesterday, and immediately vowed to crush corruption and lead the impoverished and deeply divided country to peace and prosperity.
Just 42 days after forcing Mr Eduard Shevardnadze to step down after more than a decade in power, Mr Saakashvili took 85.8 per cent of the vote, according to an exit poll conducted by a group of Western non-governmental organisations.
The US-educated lawyer, speaking to reporters in English, French, Georgian and Russian, celebrated victory last night, though official results were not expected until today. "This is a great responsibility," he said. "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." He thanked Georgia's voters, many of whom went to polling booths carrying the roses that became the symbol of last month's peaceful revolution.
"This is your victory. I have not won the election. You my people, you have won the election," he said. "There are many problems to be resolved but we will rebuild our country together and we will embark on a democratic path." Mr Saakashvili (36) must now figure out how to revive a crumbling economy, root out pervasive corruption and service $1.7 billion in foreign debt.
"You cannot do everything in one day. We will go step by step," he said, while pledging to build close relations with as many major partners as possible.
"We are for European integration at the same time as close co-operation with the United States. We want to have just as close relations with Russia. That is an absolute priority for us," he said, aware of the close eye Moscow is keeping on an ex-Soviet country it still considers to be well within its sphere of influence. He also insisted he would restart peace talks with the breakaway province of Abkhazia, with a view to bringing it back under Tbilisi's control.
Mr Saakashvili, who brought tens of thousands of people on to the streets of Tbilisi to push Mr Shevardnadze (75) from power, even won the latter's vote. Mr Shevardnadze wished his vanquisher luck and said he was going off to write a book.