Georgian election results show Giorgi Margvelashvili's outright win
By Nazrin Gadimova
The presidential election held in Georgia on October 27 ended with an outright victory of Giorgi Margvelashvili, who was nominated by the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC) tallies.
Margvelashvili is leading with over 62.16 percent of the vote, followed by United National Movement's Davit Bakradze with over 21.9 percent and Democratic Movement - United Georgia party's Nino Burjanadze with 10.06 percent.
Leader of the Labor Party Shalva Natelashvili gained 2.47 percent of the vote and is followed by the leader of the Christian Democratic Movement Giorgi Targamadze with 1 percent. The other 18 candidates received less than 1 percent of the popular vote.
These votes also include the election tallies from Afghanistan, where the Georgian soldiers voted a week ago. According to the results of this voting, Margvelashvili left Bakradze behind, gaining 104 votes of the soldiers. While Margvelashvili gained more votes in the polling station located at the Lazernik military base (415-278), at the polling station located at the Eredvi military base Bakradze gained 318 votes against Margvelashvili's 285.
Bakradze has acknowledged his defeat and congratulated Margvelashvili with the overwhelming victory at the presidential elections, while another candidate for presidency, Burjanadze, doesn't believe in the results of the elections and charges that she has evidence of her prevalence according to the results from many polling stations.
In turn, incumbent Mikheil Saakashvili after completion of the elections thanked the voters for the election of a new president and said "we have to respect the opinion of the majority".
According to the CEC, the voter turnout was 46.6 percent, while during last year's parliamentary elections the figure was 61.31 percent.
The GUAM observation mission has termed Georgia's presidential elections as free and fair. Azerbaijan's Elton Mammadov said the elections held in Georgia comply with all international standards.
Georgian non-governmental Fair Elections organization said that the elections were held in a peaceful atmosphere.
The October 27 vote was the sixth presidential election after Georgia gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991. Mikheil Saakashvili wasn't able to run for re-election because of the two-term limit in the Constitution.
The candidates included Labor Party leader Shalva Natelashvili, head of the For a Fair Georgia Party Sergo Javakhidze, Giorgi Margvelashvili from Georgian Dream, leader of the Democratic Movement - United Georgia Nino Burjanadze, United National Movement's Davit Bakradze and former chairman of the Georgian CEC Zurab Kharatishvili. Nestan Kirtadze, Levan Chachua, Avtandil Margiani, Giorgi Liluashvili and Mikheil Saluashvili had also been registered to run for presidency.
Upon the inauguration of a new president in 2013, a series of constitutional amendments passed in the parliament of Georgia from 2010 to 2013 will go into effect. The amendments envisage significant reduction of the President's powers in favor of the Prime Minister.