Saakashvili: Ruling Party ‘Still Enjoys Voters trust’

The May 30 local elections have demonstrated that the ruling party “still enjoys the trust and support of our population,” President Saakashvili told jubilant supporters gathered in incumbent Tbilisi mayor Gigi Ugulava’s re-election campaign headquarters.

He was speaking about forty minutes after the exit poll results, putting Ugulava far ahead of his rivals, were announced.

“It’s really beautiful day in Georgia. I want to announce final result of the elections and these results are that the democracy has won another victory in Georgia and I want to congratulate everyone,” Saakashvili said.
 
“We hope that after final [results are released] – and [votes] should be calculated well and attentively, in a very transparent atmosphere – we will get the result which we expected,” he said.

Edison Research exit polls for Rustavi 2 TV and Imedi TV, in which Ugulava leads with 60%, results were based upon 12,951 interviews of voters randomly selected from a sample of 72 polling locations in Tbilisi. The response rate of voters who were selected to participate in the exit poll was 49%.

Saakashvili also thanked “almost all political parties, except of some,” for showing “an amazing maturity” during the election campaign.

Gigi Ugulava also thanked the rival candidates for issue-based campaigning and said he was ready to meet with each of them to discuss possible cooperation.

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