By the vote.
"Georgia leader suffers setback in parliamentary election" by Ellen Barry |
New York Times, October 02, 2012
KARALETI, Georgia — Exit polls in Georgia’s hotly contested
parliamentary election Monday suggested that a new party headed by
billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili had managed to edge the party of
Georgia’s larger-than-life president, Mikheil Saakashvili.
Poll results released by the Georgian government indicated that
Ivanishvili’s party, Georgian Dream, had probably received more than
half of the total popular vote in the election. It was a sobering result
for Saakashvili and his ruling team, who took power in the peaceful
Rose Revolution nine years ago.
Saakashvili’s party may still retain a majority in the 150-seat
Parliament because about half of the seats are elected in individual
races by district rather than by national proportional representation.
Recent constitutional changes will shift many of the president’s current
powers to the Parliament starting next year.
As president, Saakashvili has remade Georgia as a bastion of
resistance to Russian influence and a laboratory for free-market
economic policy.
I suspect that last part is where they lost 'em. No one likes to ripped-off.
He faced no formidable challenge until last year, with the emergence
of Ivanishvili, a reclusive philanthropist who has spent years spreading
his Russian-earned billions around Georgia’s countryside. Ivanishvili
has tapped into long-simmering grievances over poverty and the
heavy-handed ruling style of Saakashvili and his team.
On Monday the country seemed to be heading for a reckoning, with each
side expressing complete confidence that it would win. With voting
still in progress, Ivanishvili had already declared victory, telling
reporters that Georgian Dream will win ‘‘no less than two-thirds of
seats in the Parliament.’’
--more--"
"President of Georgia concedes defeat in election" by Ellen Barry |
NY Times Syndication, October 03, 2012
TBILISI, Georgia — Georgia’s president, Mikhail Saakashvili, conceded
defeat Tuesday after early results in the parliamentary race showed
that a coalition backed by the billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili had edged
out his party....
Ivanishvili has criticized the president for his open hostility toward
Russia and suggested that he would take a more conciliatory line.
--more--"
Also see: Georgia on My Mind
Hasn't been on the Globe's since.
