"Just not Misha!"

Experts - about the results of the presidential elections in Georgia

The president of Georgia in the last elections, where citizens directly participate in the vote, will become Salome Zurabishvili, who went to the elections as non -partisan, supported by the authorities. Paradoxically, she is largely owed to the chief opponent of the ruling party Mikhail Saakashvili.

According to official data from the CEC, Zurabishvili scored 59.52% of the vote, and her opponent Grigol Vashadze was 40.48%.

Before the second round, the voter was truly intrigued-both according to prevailing questions, and according to experts, it turned out that the chances of the participants of the presidential race were approximately equal: the post-advantage of Zurabishvili, which was promoted by the opposition “national movement” Grigol Vashadze, could occupy a post. In the first round, the difference between them was less than one percent.

In the second round, the voter was much more active than a month ago - the turnout was more than 56% (10% more than in the first round).

The data of Exitpolov was one of the first to commented on ex-president Mikhail Saakashvili. He connected to the air of a local television company from Holland, where he lives recently, and said that the results did not admit: “We are moving to mass shares of disobedience. I urge the police and the Georgian army to dissociate myself from the mafia gang, which is led by state, ”Saakashvili said.

The candidate from the team of former president Grigol Vashadze diplomatically objected: the United Opposition has a council who will “decide how to be further.”

Having learned about the results of the elections, Zurabishvili’s victory was the first to commented on her, but Bidzina Ivanishvili, the leader of the ruling party and a billionaire, who in Georgia is considered a real (albeit informal) ruler.

“I want to express my gratitude to the public,” he said, “the rest is for me. I will fulfill all the promises, I will try to the maximum. ”

The most resonance promise of Ivanishvili is the initiative that the Georgian government announced nine days before the second round. It implies that 600 thousand citizenship will be bank debts for one and a half billion Lari (about $ 560 million). Drugs of Georgians must redeem the fund that owns Ivanishvili.

The non -governmental sector called this “an unprecedented bribery in scale”, and representatives of the opposition - “another false promise”. But experts are convinced that the promise of a billionaire noticeably strengthened the position of a pro -government candidate.

“The promise to write off debts, the activation of ultra -conservative forces and the fear of the return of Saakashvili,” the political scientist Giya Khuhashvili lists the factors that, in his opinion, led to the victory of Zurabishvili with such a tangible margin, “it cannot be said that it was decisive, they worked together.” Under the activation of conservatives, the expert refers to the support that Zurabishvili provided by the Patriots Alliance - the party with pronounced anti -Western rhetoric recently entered the Liberty Square in Tbilisi with banners: “No“ National Movement ”!

Political scientist Tornnik Sharashenidze believes that the opposition would have more chances to win if Mikhail Saakashvili. The leader of the “nationals”, who is simply called “Misha” in Georgia, too often caught my eye and annoyed the voter, who had not yet bored with “nationalels” from abroad.

He will not return

Saakashvili cannot return to Georgia because of several criminal cases that the current authorities instituted against him. Theoretically, everything could change in the case of the election of an opposition candidate - most likely, he would take advantage of the right to pardon

The elections, in fact, showed that the majority in Georgia did not want to return the “nationals” - at least while they are headed by Saakashvili.

“The ruling party, of course, is very annoying voters,” says Khukhashvili, “but“ Nationals ”are still annoying them even more.”

Diana Petriashvili, "MediaSet", especially for "Novaya Gazeta"