Week 1-6 January: Countdown is over!

Finally Georgian Extraordinary Presidential Election’s day came.
Electors voted the new President, and for two referendum, if the want their country to join NATO and Parliamentary elections to be held in April instead of October.

The Georgian Constitution (Art. 74.2) states that “The referendum shall not be held with the view of adopting or repealing law, in terms of amnesty or pardon, ratification or denunciation of international treaties and agreements, as well as the issues restricting the basic constitutional rights and freedoms of individuals”. So the referendum has not any juridical value (btw: no treaty has being written till now, and it will be the Parliament to ratify it) and its purpose was just to remind people of what the incumbent President did to ensure the access in NATO, an issue which is viewed positively by 83% of population, according to recent surveys.

The Presidential Election legal framework (Art. 70 Constitution as amended after the Rose Revolution) states that:
“4. A candidate shall be deemed to be elected if he/she has obtained more than half of the votes of participants.
5. If no candidate has received the required number of votes in the first round, a second round of elections shall be held in two weeks after an official announcement of the first round results.
6. Two candidates having the best results in the first round shall be put to the vote in the second round. The candidate who received more votes shall be deemed to be elected.”

The preliminary results published by the Central Electoral Committee (6.00 pm) are:
Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia............................0.16%
43 years old, Imedi movement. First woman ever to run for presidency in Georgia
Georgij Маisаshvili .......................................0.77%
42 years old, Future Party
David Gамкrelidze........................................ 3.73%
43 years old, New Right Party
Shalvа Naтеlаshvili...................................... 6.22%
49 years old, Labor Party
Arkadij Pатаrkatzishvili .........................7.47%
52 years old, unofficially withdrew his candidature and is at present abroad. Owner of Imedi TV and involved in scandals and accused to be preparing a coup d’etat
Levan Gachеchiladze ..............................25.21%
44 years old, supported by a coalition of 9 opposition parties
Mikhail Saakasvili ...................................50.17%
41 years old, National Movement, ruling party, incumbent President.

At launch time today Gachechiladze claimed “Not counting votes in Tbilisi, Saakashvili has 44% and I have 34% of the vote. In Tbilisi, however, I have gained an overwhelming victory, which gives me an overall nationwide lead”, while David Gамкrelidze said during a press conference “I want to state that the result of the yesterday’s election is that there should be second round of polls […] I want to congratulate Mr. Levan Gachechiladze with success in the first round […] I want to call on Mikhail Saakashvili, if he really has a sense of responsibility towards the Georgian state, he should say no to artificial victory in the first round and agree on holding of second round. That would be a solution to the current situation.” (www.civil.ge)

The point is how “free and fair” were elections. The OSCE Interim Report assess that while elections were in essence consistent with most OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and standards for democratic elections, significant challenges were revealed which need to be addressed urgently (full report available www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2008/01/29182_en.pdf). Human Rights denounces serious violations (www.humanrights.ge/) and Russian medias, quoting the Minister of Foreign Affair, went so far as to declare “Media sources, non-governmental organizations and representatives of opposition are reporting about numerous cases of violation of the electoral laws by the authorities” and “Hasty remarks made by the U.S. congressman Hastings [coordinator of the OSCE short-term election observation mission] about “triumph of Georgian democracy” are superficial”.

The nine opposition parties bloc is threatening unrests from the 8th of January for the supposed manipulations of electoral results.
New preliminary results (7:30 pm): Saakashvili 48,55%
Early results (11.30 pm): Saakashvili 52,8%


Game over … or not?