Giorgi Margvelashvili won the presidential ejections in Georgia, according to partial results from the electoral commission. A 43-year-old professor of philosophy, he will replace Mihail Saakashvili, who served two consecutive terms in office, IPN reports.
According to the Russian agency “Ria Novosti”, with 90.99% of the votes counted, Giorgi Margvelashvili has won 62.09%. His closest rival David Bakradze trails with 21%, while Nino Burdjanadze, who leads the United Georgia Democratic Party, polled slightly over 10%.
Giorgi Margvelashvili is a member of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream party, which won parliamentary elections last year, ushering in the former Soviet republic's first legal transfer of power.
The new President will have limited powers compared with the head of Government. One of his missions will be to restore relations with Russia, which were interrupted after the war of August 2008 for gaining control over South Ossetia.
