This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/europe/7173283.stm
The article has changed 11 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Georgia president 'wins election' | Georgia president 'wins election' |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili appears to have won a snap election, but it is unclear if he received enough votes to avoid a run-off. | Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili appears to have won a snap election, but it is unclear if he received enough votes to avoid a run-off. |
| According to the country's main exit poll he won just over 50% of the vote, which if confirmed by final results would give him outright victory. | According to the country's main exit poll he won just over 50% of the vote, which if confirmed by final results would give him outright victory. |
| The vote is being seen as a test for democracy in the ex-Soviet republic. | The vote is being seen as a test for democracy in the ex-Soviet republic. |
| But opposition candidate Levan Gachechiladze has accused the authorities of trying to rig the vote. | But opposition candidate Levan Gachechiladze has accused the authorities of trying to rig the vote. |
| The authorities have denied this but the BBC's Matthew Collin in Tbilisi says that after a bitter and divisive election the dispute seems certain to continue. | |
| Georgians in Tbilisi talk about their voting intentions In pictures | |
| Polls give Mr Gachechiladze about 25% of the vote. | |
| Mr Saakashvili called the election after huge opposition protests were suppressed in November, in an attempt to prove his democratic credentials. | Mr Saakashvili called the election after huge opposition protests were suppressed in November, in an attempt to prove his democratic credentials. |
| Along with the presidential election, Georgians are being asked to vote on whether they should have a parliamentary election in the coming months, and whether the country should join Nato. | |
| Hundreds of foreign observers are monitoring the ballot. | |
| Mr Saakashvili, a US-educated lawyer, came to power after street protests in 2003, dubbed the Rose Revolution. | |
| His term as president has seen Georgia strengthen its ties with Nato and the European Union. | |
| But relations with Moscow have soured and Georgia's economy has been badly hit by a Russian ban on Georgian goods. |