Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Giorgi Margvelashvili from the ruling Georgian Dream coalition won the October 27 presidential elections in Georgia, gaining 62.11 percent of the votes, the Central Election Commission said on its website after the processing of all ballots.

United National Movement's Davit Bakradze gained 21.73 percent and the leader of the Democratic Movement - United Georgia party Nino Burjanadze received 10.18 percent of the popular vote.

The newly elected president has already held a briefing. Touching upon the foreign policy of the country, he promised a constructive relationship with Russia and said that Georgia will resolve all disputes with Russia within international formats.

Answering a question on a possible arrest of incumbent President Mikheil Saakashvili after the completion of his term in office, Margvelashvili said there will be no political persecution in Georgia.

Congratulatory messages

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has congratulated Giorgi Margvelashvili on his election victory and said he is ready to work with Georgia's new president and his team to help achieve the goals of Georgia's Euro-Atlantic integration and further strengthen the NATO-Georgia relations.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule also congratulated Margvelashvili and welcomed the organization and conduct of the elections, noting improvement in the functioning of democratic institutions in Georgia. The EU officials called on the new president to work with the prime minister, government and parliament, as well as the opposition and civil society, on the continuation of an ambitious reform plan for institution-building in Georgia.

Moreover, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, Turkey's President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Latvian President Andris Berzins and Armenia's Serzh Sargsyan congratulated Margvelashvili on his overwhelming election win.

The October 27 vote was the sixth presidential election after Georgia gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991. Mikheil Saakashvili could not run for re-election because of the two-term limit in the Constitution.

Besides Giorgi Margvelashvili, Nino Burjanadze and Davit Bakradze, the election candidates, among others, included Labor Party leader Shalva Natelashvili, head of the For a Fair Georgia Party Sergo Javakhidze, 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.