Georgia - Saakashvili defeated in election / Ivanishvili endorsed as Georgia's prime minister

(21 Oct 2012)

AP cover of president casting ballot, comments, OSCE observers
Story No.: 861031
AP TELEVISION
Tbilisi - 1 Oct 2012
1. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili with his wife, Sandra Roelofs, and their son, Nikoloz, entering polling station
2. Wide of Saakashvili being registered
3. Saakashvili casting vote

Newly elected parliament holds first session since Saakashvili defeat
Story No.: 863764
POOL
Kutaisi - 21 Oct 2012
4. Wide exterior of Georgian parliament
5. Georgian Prime Minister-designate Bidzina Ivanishvili walking inside parliament
6. Wide interior of parliament
7. Saakashvili approaching podium
8. Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgian President speaking

STORYLINE:

On October 1st 2012 voters in Georgia were choosing a new parliament in a heated election that will decide the future of President Mikhail Saakashvili's government.
His party, which has dominated parliament, is up against an opposition coalition led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire businessman who has posed the most serious challenge to Saakashvili since he came to power almost nine years ago.
With fears of fraud running high, Saakashvili is under pressure to prove his commitment to democracy by holding a free and fair election.
Both sides have promised to respect the results if the election receives the approval of international observers.
Casting his vote in Tbilisi early on October 1st alongside his wife and child, Saakashvili described the current election as "very important" for Georgia and the region.
He said "lots of things are being decided right now in our country for the region, for the development, for the future not only of this nation, but what happens to the European dream in this part of the world."
He added that he expected voter turnout to be high.
About 1 (m) million of Georgia's 3.6 (m) million eligible voters live in Tbilisi, where opposition support is strongest.
Under Saakashvili, the former Soviet republic has aligned itself with the United States, while striving to join the European Union and NATO one day.
Ivanishvili, who made his money in Russia, has said he would pursue these strategic goals while also seeking to restore the ties with Moscow that were severed when the two neighbouring countries fought a brief war in 2008.
Saakashvili has accused him of serving Kremlin interests and intending to put Georgia back under Russian domination, which the opposition leader has denied.
The opposition has accused Saakashvili of authoritarian rule.
His party, the United National Movement, holds 119 of the 150 seats in parliament.
Slightly more than half of parliament members, 77, are chosen based on how well the parties do in a vote based on party lists.
The remaining 73 members are directly elected by majority vote in their constituencies.
The election sets in motion a change in the political system to give greater powers to the parliament and prime minister.
After Saakashvili's second and last term ends next year, the party that holds the majority in parliament will have the right to name the prime minister, who will become more powerful than the president.
More than four hundred observers are monitoring the elections in Georgia.
The largest delegation, consisting of 290 observers, comes from the OSCE's (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
The OSCE delegation is headed by Croatian politician Tonino Picula, of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly who was a visible presence at another polling station in the Georgian capital on October 1st.

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