Winner Declared
January 7, 2008
Two-thirds of the ballots had been counted by the early morning hours of Monday, Jan. 7, when election official Levan Tarkhnishvili announced Saakashvili the winner. Fewer than half the electoral precincts had been counted, however.
Saakashvili's majority win means there will be no runoff election. The main opposition candidate, Levan Gachechiladze, received 25 percent in Saturday's polls, according to the Central Election Commission.
The narrow win is a sharp contrast from 2004 when Saakashvili, 40, had a 96-percent approval rating that propelled him to power.
Saakashvili came under international criticism over the November 2007 police crackdown on opposition activists and subsequent imposition of a state of emergency.
Opposition leader calls for Tuesday rally
Gachechiladze, addressing the opposition gathering in Tblisi's Rike Square on Sunday, called on his supporters to rally on Tuesday after the announcement of official results.
Sunday's rally was held amid a low police presence. Rike Square had been the scene of violent clashes two months ago when police put down an opposition demonstration using teargas and batons, leaving hundreds injured.
Supporters of the 40-year-old Saakashvili had already declared victory on Saturday. At a celebration in Philharmonic Square, the president said that Georgia had completed its most democratic elections ever.
Continued dispute over election fairness
Various opinion polls, however, had given conflicting indications, with one showing Saakashvili with only 24.4 percent of votes. Opposition parties said they would contest the election results and push for a second round of voting.
"We don't believe their figures. We don't believe this. We have our own information," Tamara Rukhadze, a Gachechiladze party spokeswoman told the AFP news agency. "We demand a second round because we believe that would be fair."
The official election commission said voter turnout was about 56 percent at 3,500 election stations.