Mikhail Saakashvili has clinched victory in Georgia's presidential election six weeks after the 36-year-old, set to become Europe's youngest elected head of state, led protests that ousted veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze from power. The head of the election commission, Zurab Chiaberashvili, said in televised comments that Saakashvili had obtained 62% of all votes cast in Sunday's ballot. With 63% of ballot papers counted, Saakashvili had obtained 1,096,349 of the 1,761,936 votes cast. His inauguration has tentatively been scheduled for 25 January, which ironically falls on the 76th birthday of the man he drove from power - Shevardnadze.
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