Six weeks after President Eduard Shevardnadze's resignation in the face of mass demonstrations, Georgians on Sunday voted for his successor, widely expected to be the man who led the protests. Mikhail Saakashvili, the intense, 36-year-old Western-educated president of the Tbilisi city council, was the overwhelming favorite against four relatively unknown challengers. A fifth challenger dropped out of the race late Saturday. The election was being closely watched as an indicator of Georgia's commitment to democracy after the downfall of Shevardnadze, who had cultivated ties with the West but retained Soviet-era impulses.
The elections were not expected to be trouble-free. Georgia's chaotic record-keeping has made preparing comprehensive voter lists impossible and the total number of eligible voters was unknown — a potentially touchy issue because the constitution requires a 50-percent turnout to be valid.
| What's the problem? 50 percent of an unknown number is anything... |
Many voters were dressed in their Sunday best. About 40 people were lined up at a polling station at Georgia's Academy of Sciences in the capital, Tbilisi, minutes after the voting began, poring over handwritten voter lists posted on the walls to find their names.
| A mere ten years ago that wouldn't have been at all unusual. Today it seems quaint... |
"The election is important, not so much to me but to my children," said Tamila Chakhunashvili, 62. "I may only live another year, but I want young people to have a better life, with justice and a fight against corruption." Asked whom she voted for, she laughed and waved a rose. "It's obvious," she said.
| The procedures may be quaint, but the sentiment it touching... |
The protests that sparked Shevardnadze's Nov. 22 resignation became known as the "rose revolution" after the flowers that demonstrators gave to police as a sign of their peaceful intentions. Shevardnadze cast his ballot at another polling station in Tbilisi. Asked whether he had voted for Saakashvili, he said, "You're very close."
|