Mr Mikhail Saakashvili, who led the 'rose revolution' that forced Mr Eduard Shevardnadze from office six weeks ago, won Sunday's Georgian presidential vote by a landslide, according to an independent exit poll.
Mr Saakashvili now faces a vast array of problems in the combustible ex-Soviet state, having caught the public's heart with pledges to end corruption, combat poverty and restore central control over Georgia's restive regions.
The exit poll, organised by a group which included the Soros Foundation, the British Council and other international groups, said Mr Sakaashvili had won with 85.8 per cent of the vote.
"This is your victory. I have not won the election. You my people, you have won the election," he told reporters after the exit poll was announced.
"There are many problems to be resolved but we will rebuild our country together and we will embark on a democratic path."
The result crowns the 36-year-old lawyer's high-risk campaign which began when he led tens of thousands onto the streets in protest against a flawed parliamentary election late last year, forcing an increasingly unpopular Shevardnadze to resign.