TBILISI: Georgia’s newly elected President Salome Zurabishvili on Thursday hailed her victory as a step forward for women and a move closer to Europe for the ex-Soviet republic.
With all votes counted, the country’s election commission said the French-born former diplomat, backed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, had taken 59.52 per cent of the second-round vote.
Her rival Grigol Vashadze, from an alliance of 11 opposition parties led by exiled ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement, took 40.48 per cent.
The opposition denounced the election as a fraud. But while raising some serious concerns, foreign observers said the vote was “competitive” and well-run.
“It is now important to show that this country has chosen Europe,” Zurabishvili told journalists after her win. “For that purpose, Georgians have elected a European woman president.”
“It feels great,” she added, pointing out that she was one of a small number of women presidents in the world. The election was seen as a test of Georgia’s democratic credentials as it seeks European Union and Nato membership.
“(The) election was competitive and candidates were able to campaign freely; however one side enjoyed an undue advantage,” monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a report after the vote.
The elections were “well administered”, they said, but raised concerns about misuse of administrative resources that “blurred the line between party and state”.