By RIA Novosti
Tbilisi : Mikheil Saakashvili has been officially announced as the winner of Georgia’s January 5 presidential elections, following the results finally confirmed by the central election commission on Sunday.
According to the commission’s results, Saakashvili received 53.47% of the vote while his nearest rival, united opposition candidate Levan Gachechiladze won 25.69% of votes.
Businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili garnered 7.1%, New Rightist leader David Gamkrelidze 4.05%, Labour Party leader Shalva Natelashvili 7.11%, and other candidates gained less than 1%.
However, the Georgian opposition earlier said the election results were rigged and demanded a second round in the January 5 presidential elections. The Georgian opposition also said it would hold a ‘peaceful’ protest on January 13.
Early presidential elections were announced in Georgia after demonstrators had taken to the streets from November 2-7 demanding the resignation of President Saakashvili over corruption allegations. The protests were eventually put down by riot police, and Saakashvili subsequently announced early elections for January 5.
Saakashvili was elected as Georgian president following mass demonstrations during the country’s 2003 “Rose” revolution, when former president Eduard Shevardnadze was swept from office following allegations of election fraud.