GEORGIA: President Mikheil Saakashvili casts vote in election seen as the test for democracy

Record ID: 327827

  • Title: GEORGIA: President Mikheil Saakashvili casts vote in election seen as the test for democracy
  • Date: 2nd October 2012
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF SAAKASHVILI AND HIS FAMILY LEAVING POLLING STATION
  • Embargoed: 17th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Georgia
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA15V7GMYDVNE4MOQ4VCUHQHB95
  • Story Text: Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvli cast his ballot in a parliamentary election on Monday (October 1), which is seen as a challenge for his ruling party.
    Georgians elect a parliament with tensions high after a prison abuse scandal that has turned the vote into the biggest test of President Mikheil Saakashvili's grip on the Caucasus Mountain nation in nearly a decade in power.
    "This is a very important election for Georgia, for the region, I think. Lots of things are being decided right now in our country for the region, for the development, for the future of not only this nation but what happens to the European dream in this part of the world, what happens to the idea of democracy in this part of the world, what happens to the idea of reforms in this part of the world. And I think from what we can figure out, people are mobilised, people will show up in large numbers. We expect high turnout, and we expect good results for democracy, for freedom and for for the future of our country," Saakashvili said after casting his ballot.
    Saakashvili, a pro-Western leader who swept to the presidency after the bloodless Rose Revolution of 2003 and fought a five-day war with Russia in 2008, hopes to head off a challenge led by a once-reclusive tycoon with a fortune nearly half the size of the former Soviet republic's economy.
    For Saakashvili's main rival, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, the election is a high-stakes election debut.
    Ivanishvili, 56, and his six-party Georgian Dream movement face an uphill battle to wrest control from the ruling party, but grim video footage showing the abuse and rape of inmates at a Tbilisi prison has increased their chances.
    The video aired on two channels opposed to Saakashvili, one of which is owned by Ivanishvili, and has undermined the president's projected image as a reformer who imposed the rule of law and rooted out post-Soviet corruption.
    Many Georgians just want political and economic stability. The economy, hit by the 2008 war and the global financial crisis, has been growing again since 2010 but inflation is high again and is likely to hit 6-7 percent this year.
    A poll by the U.S. National Democratic Institute in August gave UNM 37 percent support against 12 percent for Georgian Dream but showed 43 percent of respondents could vote either way. There have been no major polls since the abuse scandal.
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