Saakashvili’s First Post-Election Statement

President Saakashvili speech delivered in Gigi Ugulava’s election headquarters about forty minutes after the polling stations were closed and exit poll results released

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.

You know that both our friends and our enemies were watching these elections very intensively, but everything is secondary compared to our people.

Our people have demonstrated an amazing maturity. They left no arguments even to those people, who were saying that ‘people were not coming to the elections; otherwise, the result would be quite different’. There was a record high turnout, especially under condition of well-performing election commission and under condition of accurate voter lists.

There was an amazing voter turnout. Of course, I welcome the parties, I welcome the candidates and I welcome today’s candidate [referring to Gigi Ugulava], but most of our thanks and I am sure, from other political entities as well, belong to a single actor in Georgia, which decides everything – our multi-ethnic society, Georgian people. 

If we look at the results – there is no [official] final result yet but you know that exit polls as well as our political experience and intuition tell us that the political force, which we all represent here, was supported by as many voters like it was during the 2008 parliamentary elections and during the 2006 local elections. So, it means that we have not fallen down and it is very important. We still enjoy the trust and support of our population and I congratulate each of you.

But if in Gigi’s case four years ago this support was based on the hope of future deeds of mayor, now it is based on what has been done and there are ten-fold more hopes and expectations about what should be done in Georgia. Therefore, it’s worth to be congratulated.

At the same time it requires a very hard work that each of us faces ahead. And I want to say that such results were observed in entire Georgia; entire Georgia was very active. 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. 

It is an important victory of democracy – I have neither a legal right, nor it is correct towards the voters to announce the final result. But I want to say one thing – many thanks to almost all political parties with few exceptions, have demonstrated an amazing maturity compared to what we had previously.

We still are far from what a real political life, real correctness, real battle of opinions, real election campaigns should be in a developed European country, which we are building. But a step has really been taken in this direction – much more concrete talks, much more issue-based [discussions], comparatively less swearing, comparatively less swearing of the President – I have almost felt abandoned – and of course, it is good.   

Eventually, it is a maturity of political system, more respect of your voters to talk with them about those issues, which they are interested in, instead of those issues, which you want to impose on them. From this point of view, I hope that we were in the best position. Four years ago I had a privilege to nominate the first elected mayor of Tbilisi – for the first time since the 19th century, when Georgia was not independent – of course, until now the Tbilisi Mayor was elected – Gigi was elected by the [members of] Tbilisi City Council. Today, we hope that after vote tabulation we will have a privilege to present the first directly elected mayor in the history of Georgia with huge support of the population.      

I want to say that Gigi carried out a brilliant campaign along with the [ruling party] candidates for the Tbilisi City Council membership and our activists, with a lot of ordinary people, who without any material compensation… he [Ugulava] was campaigning day and night, struggling, explaining the people and talking about what was happening – of course, the major driving force of this campaign was Gigi himself and his personality.

Never ever in the history of Georgia there have done as many things in the capital of Georgia, in all villages, in all cities, except for the occupied territories, as we have done during past four years. So, it has been done only because our people are so great, but also because this man and we all were doing it. Our strength is in unity. Without unity and putting our main tasks above everything we managed to prove that the enemy is not right when it supposes that it will always manage to disintegrate Georgia, that the prison is always broken from inside and there is always someone, who will collapse Georgia. On the contrary, we show that Georgia will be built through unity and we will bring this construction to the end.

Today I do not enjoy the right of the election commission – I neither have grown a beard [reference to CEC chairman], nor do I have such a charming spokesperson as our election commission has. Therefore, as the President of the country, who theoretically does not have many rights to interfere, especially in the activities of the local authorities – democracy is such a bitter thing. I want to present an excellent Tbilisite, a real patriot, a very efficient person and my very close friend Gigi Ugulava.