Headlines from Television News:

• More than 165 mass media outlets throughout the world will be covering the January 5 snap presidential elections in Georgia. Seven candidates will be standing in the elections: Mikheil Saakashvili, Davit Gamkrelidze, Shalva Natelashvili, Levan Gachechiladze, Giorgi Maisashvili, Arkadi (Badri) Patarkatsishvili and Irina Sarishvili. The deadline for submitting applications to the Central Election Commission (CEC) to withdraw candidacies expired at noon today. The CEC has already acquainted both local and foreign journalists with those activities, which envisage holding of elections freely, democratically and fairly.
• The Georgian people will learn about the results of the exit-polls on January 5, the day of snap presidential elections in Georgia. The project is being coordinated by the Ilia Chavchavadze State University, Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development, Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), and Georgian Institute of Strategic and International Research. About 8-12 thousand people will participate in the public poll. International observers invited to Georgia, as well as representatives of the social service and political experts will ensure transparency of public polls. The project is financed by TV Companies of “Rustavi-2,” “Mze,” “Adjara TV” and Georgian Public Broadcasting (GPB).
• A second round of balloting is inevitable, as Mikheil Saakashvili does not have enough public support, Davit Gamkrelidze, the leader of the New Rights Party and a presidential candidate, said on January 4. “Do not believe in charlatan public opinion surveys [commissioned] by the authorities or planned exit polls. They [the authorities] are doing these [public opinion surveys] to give the impression that Saakashvili will win the election,” Gamkrelidze said on the Rustavi 2 TV political talk show, Primetime. “I want to assure everyone that Saakashvili really doesn’t have enough support to win in the first round. And I think that there will be a second round and I will definitely be there.”
• The election headquarters of Mikheil Saakashvili, standing in the elections for the second term on January 4 on the eve of the special presidential elections called the opposition to hold voting in the “calm and democratic situation”… “Peaceful and democratic elections are necessary not for authorities or separate candidates, they are needed for the country to move forward, consolidate international reputation and fulfill the tasks, one of which has been imposed into the plebiscite as a question – it is integration to NATO. I hope political forces will manifest responsibility and do everything not to prevent state interests and reduce to minimum a risk of confrontation”, Bakradze stressed.
• Activists of the electoral headquarters of Levan Gachechiladze, presidential candidate of the United National Council of oppositional forces presented by the political union “Tavisufleba” (Liberty) have been beaten up in Batumi, administrative capital of Georgia’s Adjara Autonomous Republic. As head of Gachechiladze’s Batumi headquarters Davit Batsikadze reported, the 12 activists were beaten up by unknown masked people at 5 AM this morning when whey were sticking election posters on Rustaveli Street in Batumi. Batsikadze further reported that the police was patrolling about the territory, though as soon as the attacking started, they disappeared from the site and re-appeared only after the incident was over. The activists are inflicted minor injuries and are hospitalized with various fractures for the time being.
• Irina Sarishvili, presidential candidate and the leader of political movement Imedi, does not intend to withdraw her candidacy from the presidential elections scheduled for January 05,2008. She stated about that at the press conference held on Friday. Sarishvili called on the voters ones again to give negative answer to the question related to Georgia's affiliation to the NATO during the plebiscite on the voting day for presidential elections. The presidential candidate reckons that Georgia's affiliation to NATO is a great danger for the country, as it might entail final loss of the conflicting regions, contrary to the idea that it might help Georgia to solve the territorial conflicts. According to Sarishvili, positive answer to the question means that if conflict occurs between the USA and Iran, NATO troops would be temporarily deployed in Georgia, which would only harm Georgia's interests.

Economic News

Politics & Economics: Discontent Colors Georgia Vote --- Crackdown, President's Record on Poverty Stir Opponents
January 4, 2008; Source: The Wall Street Journal

Georgia's U.S.-educated president dismayed Western supporters in the fall with a violent crackdown on opponents. But at home Mikheil Saakashvili's image was dented long before then by his failure to meet high hopes for quick economic prosperity. It is a problem Mr. Saakashvili will have to wrestle with even if he wins early elections that he called for tomorrow. Over the past four years, his presidency has emerged as a cautionary tale in the importance of managing expectations: While Western-style overhauls have stoked an economy that has more than doubled in the past five years, average wages in Georgia still linger below $200 a month. The elections, called by Mr. Saakashvili in November, have given his opponents little time to mount a serious challenge. Mr. Saakashvili's campaign yesterday released a poll it commissioned suggesting he would win the 50% plus one vote necessary to win the contest outright and avoid a runoff. Mr. Saakashvili was swept to power in 2004 with 96% of the vote and rode a wave of optimism after peacefully ousting an autocratic Soviet-style regime. Western governments give him high marks for overhauling government bureaucracy and uprooting corruption. But his critics have capitalized on the slow growth of basic living standards in a country weary of post-Soviet penury. "Saakashvili's government has not only failed to deal with poverty, it has made things worse," said Malkhaz Gorgaslidze, a campaigner for leading opposition candidate Levan Gachechiladze. Government officials say that at least 300,000 of Georgia's 4.4 million people are unemployed. Though economic growth is robust, inflation is rising, and last year it nearly reached 12%. Mr. Saakashvili argues he made the best of a desperate situation that he inherited in January 2004 from Eduard Shevardnadze, the former president and a Soviet-era politician. Days after Mr. Shevardnadze stepped down, Georgia's finance minister announced the government was penniless. Reshaping a deeply corrupt state, Mr. Saakashvili has liberally wielded the economic scalpel. He fired tens of thousands of traffic police to cut down on bribery, poured millions of dollars into the country's degraded Soviet-era infrastructure and introduced a simplified tax regime. The government also has worked hard to create a business-friendly environment, introducing a flat 15% corporate-tax rate. That has drawn a tide of foreign investment, which rose to $2 billion last year, compared with $336 million in 2003. Mr. Saakashvili's rivals charge that he forgot about ordinary people in his rush to impress the West. The government named a major thoroughfare in the capital after President George W. Bush. Georgia's army has contributed about 2,000 troops to the war in Iraq, making it the largest military contingent after the U.S. and Britain. Meanwhile, 1.2 million people -- more than one-quarter of the population -- live below the official poverty line of $72 a month. Street demonstrations in November, dispersed by tear gas and plastic bullets, were a wake-up call to the government. Mr. Saakashvili called elections to test his mandate, and since then has adopted a campaign slogan of "Georgia without poverty." Officials say they are bringing a new element to their self-declaimed "ultraliberal libertarian paradigm": social inclusiveness. In an interview, Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze, a former investment banker, said the government simply didn't have the funds to pour money into social programs when it came to power. Mr. Gurgenidze sees the new emphasis on social policy pragmatically. It is, he said, the only effective way of ensuring that the overhauls pioneered by Mr. Saakashvili become irreversible and have time to work. Hundreds of election observers have arrived in Georgia to monitor the polling tomorrow. The U.S.-funded Freedom House said the country's democratic credentials "hang in the balance" after Mr. Saakashvili's recent crackdown on protesters. If he does win in the first round, the margin may be thin, raising the danger of more protests by opponents who say they will be watching for vote fraud. The U.S. polling and political strategy firm Greenberg Quilan Rossner released the results of an opinion poll yesterday, paid for by Mr. Saakashvili's campaign, showing that he could get 52% of the vote in the first round. The poll said his closest challenger, Mr. Gachechiladze, could get 19% of the vote. Badri Patarkatsishvili, a millionaire businessman who yesterday re-entered the race after withdrawing in response to a bribery scandal, garnered 11% in the poll. Mr. Saakashvili's opponents hope to cash in on the groundswell of resentment against the Georgian president. Traipsing up a hill in central Tbilisi, yards from key government ministries, a 57-year-old unemployed woman, who gave her name as Dali, said she is one of those left behind. Carrying a bag of firewood to heat her home, which she said is without electricity or gas, she said she was afraid to give her surname and complained that her meager existence hasn't improved in the four years since Mr. Saakashvili came to power. "We live poorly. I don't know who I'll vote for, but it won't be Saakashvili," she said.

EBRD Discusses Allocation Of Loan Under Construction Of Metallurgic Mini-Mill In Georgia
January 4, 2007; Source: Black Sea Press

The project of crediting construction in Georgia of a metallurgic mini-mill has passed final review at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and it is pending board approval. It is reported at the EBRD official website. The proposed project is for the construction and operation of a steel mini-mill of 175 k ton capacity in Georgia. The plant to be built in Rustavi by Company Geosteel will use local scrap (which is currently exported). Reinforcement bar will be the main product of the steel mill. It is envisaged that the annual production will be sold principally in Georgia and neighbouring Armenia. The project is supported by JSW Steel (Netherlands) B.V., which is part of one of the largest producers of steel in India. Total project cost makes USD 42 million. EBRD finance: up to USD 29 million senior loan, to be syndicated to commercial banks. According to the report, the project has passed the stage of conceptual discussion, and discussion at the EBRD Board is scheduled for the end of January 2008. Worth mentioning, Company Geosteel planned earlier to construct new metallurgic mini-plant for production of grids. The Company started enrolment of both technical and office staffs of some particular specialties. Besides the available infrastructure, the 110-kilovolt sub-station is planned to be constructed. Geosteel is implementing works for preparation of the foundation under the metal-melting shop. The plant is planned to be put in exploitation in June 2008. *** Geosteel Ltd, owner of Rustavi Metallurgic Plant, is the subsidiary of Energy and Industrial Complex that acquired assets of the plant in October 2005 at $21 million. The Energy and Industrial Complex also owns the controlling block of shares of Tuji-XXI (Pig-Iron 21).

EBRD to Provide Mortgage Credit Facility To Georgian TBC-Bank
January 4, 2007; Source: Black Sea Press

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to provide mortgage credit facility to the Georgian TBC-Bank. It is reported at the EBRD official website. USD 12 million unsecured mortgage credit facility in two tranches of USD 6 million each will be released. The project has been discussed at the EBRD Board, and it will be signed soon. EBRD funds will be used to provide longer-term financing to individuals for purchasing, renovating, repairing, constructing and/or re-mortgaging their residential property in Georgia. The transition impact will be mainly achieved by providing a residential mortgage credit line to a commercial bank in Georgia, where mortgage loans represent a small share of GDP compared to CEE countries (approximately 3% of GDP, as of June 2007). Further growth of mortgage lending is dependent on the availability of long-term funding. The proposed loan would increase the supply of such funding available to the banking sector and allow an increasing number of people to access bank financing for purchasing, renovating and/or constructing residential property. The EBRD reports reads that the operation will also promote best practice standards as the bank applies EBRD's recommended set of Minimum Standards for Mortgage Lending.

Political News

Georgia faces choice of 'true or failed' democracy
January 4, 2008; Source: Financial Times

Voters in Georgia go to the polls tomorrow for a presidential election seen as a critical test of the post-Soviet nation's democracy, as the most contentious candidate, multi-millionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, suddenly announced yesterday he was back in the race. The snap election was called by Mikheil Saakashvili, the president, in a calculated gamble to try to renew his mandate almost a year before his term in office expired. His action temporarily defused Georgia's worst political crisis of recent years, after police used teargas to break up mass opposition rallies in Tbilisi last year - bringing sharp international criticism as well as a domestic backlash. In calling the election, Mr Saakashvili has put not only his career but also Georgia's future course on the line, including its fractious relationship with the government in Moscow. A disputed result could endanger the political stability of a staunchly pro-western ally on Russia's southern border. Most opinion surveys suggest that Mr Saakashvili will top the poll over six rivals but it is less certain that he will win the absolute majority needed to avoid a run-off against his nearest rival. The return to the fray of Mr Patarkatsishvili, who made his fortune in Russia as the business partner of Boris Berezovsky, the exiled Russian oligarch, brings intrigue into the race, raising the possibility of further division of an already fragmented opposition. "I hope we can get 60 per cent in the first round," Mr Saakashvili told the Financial Times in an interview on the campaign trail in western Georgia. "It will be much more difficult for us in the second round."These are the most competitive elections held in Georgia thus far. Of course, the political situation is turbulent but that is because we are a democracy. We have made mistakes but we are on the right path." All the opposition parties have focused on the personality of the president, accusing him of aloofness and dictatorial behaviour, especially after breaking up last year's opposition demonstrations. The government's actions were criticised by Human Rights Watch and Freedom House, the US-based watchdogs, as well as by Washington and the European Union. "Things happening in Georgia have been a bit dramatised in the media," said Mr Saakashvili. "This is a largely mainstream country and a democratic one. We have our ups and downs like any country but we are clearly not in a free-fall." He rejected any comparisons with Russia's alleged drift away from democracy. Various polls suggest that Mr Saakashvili could fall short of the 50 per cent threshold required for a first-round win. Levan Gachechiladze, his nearest competitor, backed by a nine-party coalition, could get up to 20 per cent. But in a second round, other opposition candidates could back Mr Gachechiladze, a wine producer and distributor, who is campaigning to abolish the presidency and turn Georgia into a parliamentary democracy. The stage could be set for another tense stand-off. Opposition groups have pulled out of a cross-party exercise to publish exit polls tomorrow, claiming that they would be biased in favour of Mr Saakashvili. They say a first-round victory for the president is possible only with vote-rigging. Mr Patarkatsishvili is one of those accused by the government of planning mass protests against the poll result in order to overthrow Mr Saakashvili, regardless of the election outcome. He was secretly tape-recorded at a meeting in London, where he lives, offering a $100m bribe to a senior policeman to gain his support. The media magnate pulled out of the campaign after the tapes were published, and the journalists at his television station, Imedi, refused to carry on working. His return to the campaign yesterday seems to have caused more confusion, precipitating the resignation of his campaign manager. Mr Saakashvili vowed that the vote would be democratic. At stake, he said, was "whether Georgia will be-come a failed democracy or a true democracy. If I lose the election, the risk is high". He insisted that his administration had achieved a lot by focusing on unpopular structural reforms rather than populist measures such as raising salaries and pensions. But he pledged to boost pensions and salaries during a second term. On the campaign trail in Batumi, a western city once controlled by gangs, he boasted of the fruits of millions of dollars of investment in public and private infrastructure. Such benefits could be extended to the breakaway northern region of Abkhazia if Georgia were able to regain full control of that province, he claimed. But critics claim that economic success has not been shared widely enough and that Mr Saakashvili has been more concerned with burnishing his international reputation than addressing problems at home.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/37d59b46-ba69-11dc-abcb-0000779fd2ac.html

Candidates Meet with International Observers
January 4, 2008; Source: www.civil.ge; Black Sea Press; Prime-News

A group of international observers from OSCE and Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe held separate meeting with six presidential candidates, except of Badri Patarkatsishvili (who is not in Georgia), on January 4, a day before the elections. All the opposition presidential candidates have reiterated their position that election campaign was held in “unfair and unequal conditions.” Incumbent presidential candidate, Mikheil Saakashvili, declined to comment after the meeting. “The election legislation is not liberal. Timeframe was too tight. We had no proper access to media outlets,” Levan Gachechiladze, a presidential candidate backed by the nine-party opposition coalition said. “Black PR campaign is being carried out against us through media sources, including by you [referring to Rustavi 2 TV and Mze]. Unlike Saakashvili we were not able to use administrative resources. Everyday there have been cases of attacks on our activists, who were beaten, or arrested just because they are our activists. We already know about the results of planned exit polls and we know in advance that they [the authorities] are already preparing to celebrate their victory on January 5 [based on results of exist polls]. Does it mean free and fair elections? We will not give Georgia to Saakashvili. It is ruled out.” Davit Gamkrelidze, leader of the New Rights Party and a presidential candidate, said that conduct of tomorrow’s election should be assessed in the context of recent developments in the country and in the context of those numerous human rights violations that took place not only in recent months but during Saakashvili’s entire term in office. Giorgi Maisashvili, a presidential candidate and leader of Party of Future, said: “Ex-president has carried out a shameful election campaign… No debates were held either. We [referring to his Party of Future] do not have a representative in the Central Election Commission, while planned exit polls are one of the means of ballot rigging.” “I informed them [international observers] about possible violations,” Irina Sarishvili, a presidential candidate and leader of Party of Hope, said. “I told them what I expect from the elections. These elections will be unfair. Since Saakashvili wants to win in the first round, he will do his best to rig the elections.” Speaking at a news conference, Shalva Natelashvili, leader of the Labor Party and a presidential candidate said people in Georgia were ready to change the government “peacefully, through elections.” “The authorities should understand this,” he said “So, they should lay the foundation to peaceful change of governments without any rallies, coups or unrests; without those harmful processes through which the governments have been changing in Georgia for past 15 years.”

Candidate Gachechiladze Unveils Program for 200 Days
January 3, 2008; Source: www.civil.ge

Levan Gachechiladze, the nine-party opposition coalition presidential candidate, has outlined the key priorities for a possible Gachechiladze presidency, just two days before polling day. Gachechiladze’s program is presented in bullet point format in a three-page document called 200 Days – the number of days he has said he would stay office if elected. Gachechiladze has promised to scrap the presidential system in favor of a parliamentary one. “I, Levan Gachechiladze promises that violence and injustice will end in Georgia very soon; nobody will be able to touch private property; nobody will be able to intimidate business; there will be no political police and elections will never be rigged. I promise that free media will never be silenced; nobody will have the right to insult the people… Let me keep my promises… I will be a ruler hired by the people and will be accountable only to the people,” Gachechiladze said in Saguramo, near Tbilisi, on January 3. The key priorities of Gachechiladze’s program read:

• Strengthening the rule of law in Georgia to ensure the security of Georgian citizens, and the restoration of territorial integrity and sovereignty;
• Building democratic institutions to secure Georgia’s accession to NATO and the European Union;
• Probing into crimes committed under Saakashvili’s rule: dispersal of November 7 rallies and hunger strikers; violent closure of independent media broadcasts, investigation of Sandro Girgvliani’s and Amiran Robakidze's murders, as well as Zurab Zhvania’s death, punishing the guilty;
• Unconditional release of political prisoners and pardoning of those jailed for petty crimes;
• Setting up a national commission on fundamental constitutional reforms to ensure a better system of checks and balances;
• Ceasing government pressure on the judiciary and implementing fundamental reforms to provide free and fair justice;
• Holding fair and transparent parliamentary elections;
• Observing the constitutional agreement between the Georgian state and the Georgian Orthodox Church;
• Launching talks with Abkhazians, Ossetians and Russians aimed at restoring the territorial integrity and defending state interests, as well as implementing peace initiatives;
• Initiation of the law on lustration;
• Setting up municipal police and abolishing the Department for Constitutional Security and Special Operations Department of the Interior Ministry;
• Eradicating elite corruption;
• Setting up a tax arbitration system;
• Increase the minimum pension and minimum monthly salaries to the subsistence level;
• Eradicating state racketeering of businesses;
• Suspension of privatization; investigation of violations in previous privatizations;
• Revision of ill-advised education reforms;
• Elaboration and implementation of a wide-ranging program on the development of Georgian culture, sport and science;
• Development of a multi-stage employment program, encouragement of small and medium sized businesses;
• Development of a state program to combat drug-addiction;
• Providing dignified living conditions for internally displaced persons before their return to their homes in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region [South Ossetia].

Saakashvili Campaign Releases Public Opinion Survey
January 4, 2008; Source: www.civil.ge

Incumbent presidential candidate Mikheil Saakashvili has a strong lead over his opponents and can win an outright majority in the first round of elections, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner (GQR) Research, commissioned by the Saakashvili’s campaign, said on January 3, just two days before the polling day. The survey was based on face-to-face interviews with 1,200 voters throughout Georgia, conducted between December 5-13. Field work was carried out by the local research group, ACT, with the methodology developed by GQR. Saakashvili has the support of 42% of those surveyed, followed by Levan Gachechiladze with 19%; Badri Patarkatsishvili – 11%; Shalva Natelashvili – 5%; Davit Gamkrelidze – 4% and Gia Maisashvili – 1%; 2 percent would not vote or spoil their vote, and 16 percent were undecided, according to the GQR survey. Of the 71% of voters who are most likely to vote on January 5, Saakashvili has 46%; Gachechiladze – 16%; and Patarkatsishvili 11%; among these likely voters, 17% are undecided. By examining how the undecided voters may eventually vote, GQR concluded that Saakashvili may emerge with 52% in a first round ballot, followed by Gachechiladze with 21% and Patarkatsishvili with 14%. The margin of sampling error for the subset of likely voters is plus or minus 3.4%, according to GQR. GQR executive vice president, Dr. Jeremy Rosner, told a group of journalists in a phone conference on January 3, that this figure – 52% - is a result of “a very conservative” methodology that GQR used. He also pointed out that the survey was carried out before the events surrounding Badri Patarkatsishvili, referring to covertly recorded compromising video and audio tapes released by the Georgian authorities implicating Patarkatsishvili and his allies in an alleged coup plot. “Our prediction of 52% for Saakashvili is both conservative and informed by our experience around the world,” he said. “Events since December 13 might actually drive that figure higher.” He also added that there should be “no significant sense of surprise either within Georgia or in the international community” about these results. According to the survey even if the election were to go to a second round, Saakashvili would win among likely voters by a margin of 54-33% against Gachechiladze, and 54-32% against Patarkatsishvili.

Patarkatsishvili Remains in Presidential Race
January 4, 2008; Source: www.civil.ge; EurasiaNet; Prime-News Business

Business tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili retracted his earlier pledge to withdraw from the presidential race and said on January 3 that he would “continue to fight on to be elected president.” “I will not withdraw my candidacy and will continue to fight… to develop Georgia into a true democratic country with an independent parliament and courts,” Patarkatsishvili said in a written statement released by his press office on January 3. “Every objective poll shows that support for Saakashvili does not exceed 20-25%; that is why I am convinced that any higher result would mean that the election had been stolen.” He said that recently he had spoken on the phone with Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church Ilia II. Although no election-related issues were discussed, Patarkatsishvili said the conversation “has given me the power to declare” his intention to remain in the presidential race. Mentioning of the Georgian Orthodox Church in this context triggered the latter to immediately distance itself from Patarkatsishvili’s remarks…. “All the wiretappings made public by the media are nothing more than a provocation organized by the Georgian special services and have been fabricated only to discredit me,” Patarkatsishvili said in his January 3 statement. “Mr. Saakashvili is not fighting for your well-being or your future. He is clinging to power so that he can escape responsibility for his crimes. Together – and only together – we can defeat the criminal regime.” He also said that he remained committed to his earlier pre-election promises about spending GEL 1.5 billion of his own money for social assistance and for paying consumers' gas and electricity bills for the next 18 months. Few hours later after the written statement was released, Patarkatsishvili has also issued a video address in which he repeated everything what he was saying in the written statement. Only extracts from the video address, not full version of address, were aired by the Georgian televisions which triggered Patarkatsishvili protests. In a separate written statement issued later on January 3, Patarkatsishvili, in particular, complained that those parts of his video address which contained his criticism towards Saakashvili and his pledge to spend GEL 1.5 billion of own money for social assistance programs were not aired. “I demand this address to be broadcasted immediately, and in full, on TV channels Rustavi 2, Mze, Public Television and to stop discrimination,” Patarkatsishvili said. “This case proves once again that on the one hand – the authorities are scared of the truth, and on the other hand that this election campaign does not meet minimum standards for democratic elections.” http://www.civil.ge/eng/detail.php?id=16744

Saakashvili, Opposition Clash over Limits of Power in Georgia
January 4, 2008; Source: Bloomberg

Georgia, the homeland of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, votes tomorrow in an election whose key issue is how much power its leader should be allowed to wield. The presidential campaign pits Mikheil Saakashvili, who came to power after ousting Eduard Shevardnadze in 2003's peaceful ``Rose Revolution,'' against Levan Gachechiladze, a former wine producer running at the head of an opposition bloc that accuses Saakashvili of increasingly authoritarian rule. The U.S.-educated Saakashvili, 40, called an early election under Western pressure after imposing a state of emergency in November, when thousands took to the streets of Tbilisi, the capital, to protest low living standards and his government. Gachechiladze, 43, says the president has too much power, and pledges to dilute his authority through a strengthened, freely elected parliament. ``Every single citizen will have an equal chance to elect a real, democratic parliament,'' Gachechiladze said in a telephone interview in Tbilisi yesterday. ``In a maximum of 200 days, I will be able to achieve this.'' The two candidates -- Saakashvili stepped down from office for the campaign, leaving the presidency to an interim head of state -- both lean toward the West. Under Saakashvili, Georgia's relations with Russia deteriorated so much that President Vladimir Putin halted all travel links and banned Georgian imports.

EU, NATO Membership

Both Saakashvili and Gachechiladze are determined to take the former Soviet republic toward membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Saakashvili has sent 2,000 soldiers to Iraq to reinforce Georgia's NATO bid. ``Whoever becomes president is going to pursue a Euro- Atlantic path, because there's no other path to follow,'' Amanda Akcakoca, an analyst at the European Policy Centre in Brussels, said in a Dec. 21 telephone interview. During the emergency, Saakashvili placed restrictions on public gatherings and the media, briefly closing the News Corp.- controlled Imedi television station. Tbilisi has returned to normal after restrictions were removed last month. ``The atmosphere is a lot calmer than it was,'' Peter Semneby, the EU's special representative for the South Caucasus, said in a telephone interview in Tbilisi yesterday. ``The situation is clearly moving in the right direction.''

Welcoming Observers

Georgia has welcomed more than 1,000 international monitors, according to Nino Burjanadze, the interim head of state. That's in contrast to Russia's parliamentary election on Dec. 2, which the main observer body of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe refused to attend, citing ``unprecedented restrictions.'' ``Georgia has committed itself to the utmost transparency for these elections,'' NATO spokesman James Appathurai said in a telephone interview from Brussels. ``NATO will be watching that very closely.'' Western investors haven't been deterred by Saakashvili's November clampdown on opposition protests or the early elections, according to Michael Davey, director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's unit in the Caucasus. ``I don't know of a single investor who has slowed down because of these events,'' Davey said in an interview in Tbilisi last month. Georgia's economy grew by 13.2 percent in the third quarter from the same period in 2006. By contrast, Ukraine's gross domestic product rose by 6.4 percent in the same period.

Foreign Investment

Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said Dec. 5 that Georgia expects foreign companies to invest as much as $2 billion in the country in 2008. Foreign direct investment rose to $407 million in the third quarter from $370 million in the previous three months. Saakashvili, who holds a law degree from Columbia University in New York and is married to a Dutchwoman, has named multilingual ministers educated abroad, partly to give confidence to investors. Gurgenidze is a former managing director at Dutch bank ABN Amro Bank NV. Gachechiladze says he also wants the confidence of investors. ``Businesses in Georgia will not be affected if the system is changed,'' he said in an interview last month. Polls disagree on which candidate is ahead: A Dec. 1-12 survey by Business Consulting Group gave Saakashvili a 25 percentage-point lead, a Dec. 29-30 poll by the Rezonansi newspaper showed Gachechiladze ahead by 4.8 points. Both polls showed that about three in 10 voters were still undecided. Joerg Himmelreich, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, predicts that Saakashvili will probably win tomorrow because Gachechiladze had too little time to prepare his campaign. Even so, he said, Gachechiladze's campaign is sure to make Saakashvili pay more attention to parliament in future. ``The long and heavy legacy of Stalin,'' who ruled the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1953, is such that ``even a revolution of the form of Saakashvili's is not totally free,'' Himmelreich said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=azecMGr7zvPY&refer=europe

Georgia's Ex-Leader Puts In Final Spurt On Comeback Trail
January 2, 2008; Source: The Washington Post

Saakashvili Had Resigned Presidency After Criticism of Crackdown on Protests

TELAVI, Georgia -- Before his helicopter touches down, Mikheil Saakashvili already has his hand on the door handle. A bodyguard leans forward but can't restrain him long; within seconds, Misha, as Georgia's former president and now campaigning candidate is informally known, has jumped out, ducked into a black SUV, and is barreling at top speed through the countryside. In Telavi, the capital of Georgia's wine region, he unfolds his broad 6-foot-3-inch frame from the car and grabs a microphone. "I live for you," he booms to a crowd in the street. "You can't imagine what it means when you smile for me." Then he's off to a local university; by the end of the afternoon he has hit a church, a theater, a vineyard and a farmhouse, chased after by out-of-breath assistants, bodyguards and TV crews. Saakashvili, 40, has spent every day of the past month like this, on an intensive, often frantic, 41-day presidential campaign that culminates when voters go to the polls Saturday. "I love campaigns," he says with a grin as the helicopter lifts off again. "It's like a boxing championship; you go up and up and up, until the last one." But this campaign, meant to be his last, wasn't supposed to happen this way. His term as president was slated to last through 2008. But he cut it short in November to defuse a crisis that began when he sent out baton-swinging riot police after five days of peaceful anti-government demonstrations, accusing the protesters of being stooges of Georgia's rival, Russia. Police also raided and violently shut down a popular opposition TV station. The tactics angered many Georgians and shocked allies of this former Soviet republic; the United States had praised Georgia under Saakashvili as a successful new democracy. Western governments and human rights organizations condemned the police attacks, saying Saakashvili had taken a troubling authoritarian turn, and some analysts said the country could fall into military rule or civil war. But the next day Saakashvili had a surprise response: He moved the presidential election ahead to Jan. 5, which required him to step down and run again. Georgians, he declared, would show with their ballots whether they supported him. A former member of parliament and justice minister, Saakashvili came to power in 2004 by leading the bloodless Rose Revolution, which swept out the corrupt government of President Eduard Shevardnadze. Shortly afterward, he was elected with 97 percent of the vote, in an election that monitors ruled essentially clean despite his enormous tally. In Washington, the charismatic, American-educated leader became a golden boy. A Columbia- and George Washington University-educated lawyer, he set about trying to reform a collapsing bureaucracy at the same breakneck speed he seems to use in everything. He encouraged foreign investment, repaired roads, replaced a corrupt police force, and brought reliable gas and electricity service. He pushed for membership in the European Union and NATO, reined in a rebellious autonomous region and moved to win back two breakaway regions along the Russian border. He became known for scheduling state business after midnight, treating visitors to impromptu rides on Ferris wheels and showing up in unexpected places, such as a conflict zone where he confronted Russian soldiers (an event captured on film and replayed repeatedly on television). The United States helped train the Georgian military and selected the country for a $300 million Millennium Challenge grant. President Bush called Georgia a "beacon of democracy," and Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) nominated Saakashvili for the Nobel Peace Prize. But critics accused him of creeping authoritarianism and infringements on free speech and the rule of law. He promoted big business and international investment at the expense of ordinary people, they said, and some charged that his bluster was unnecessarily escalating tensions with Russia over trade, energy and border disputes. Saakashvili dismissed the critics as Soviet retrogrades and during the protest crisis accused opposition leaders of being part of a pro-Russian intended coup. Now, however, the special forces are nowhere in sight and Saakashvili is presenting himself as a compromiser. He has pledged to bring new figures into his cabinet and to focus on poverty and unemployment. In one TV ad, as he listens to a war refugee describe his hard life, a tear rolls down his cheek -- which he insists was real. "Of course I was crying," he said. "If not for the health insurance that we gave them three months ago he would have been dead by now, that's what they told me." Jonathan Kulick, director of studies at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies in Tbilisi, said Saakashvili's approach has changed. "He became more avuncular," he said, adding that his style now is more like "chatting with the waitress in the diner in New Hampshire or talking to the farmer in Iowa about the price of soybeans."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/01/AR2008010102000_pf.html

Candidates’ Spouses Go Head-to-Head
January 4, 2008; Source: www.civil.ge

Although televised debates between the actual presidential candidates never happened, the spouses of three candidates battled it out on the Rustavi 2 TV late-night political talk show, Primetime. Sandra Roelofs, 39, the wife of incumbent candidate Mikheil Saakashvili; Marina Madichi, 41, the wife of New Rights Party leader Davit Gamkrelidze; and Bela Alania, 44, the wife of Labor Party leader Shalva Natelashvili, participated. Ingra Grigolia, the host, said Levan Gachechiladze’s wife, Nino Mikeladze, had declined her invitation to participate. The debate mostly involved the spouses defending their husbands’ political stances, with sharp words sometimes being exchanged. Natelashvili’s wife, Bela Alania said she would not have advised her husband to run for re-election after what had happened on November 7. Doing everything, she said, just for the sake of power – for what she called “the presidential chair” – was not something she would recommend her husband to do. The former first lady immediately hit back, saying: “My husband [Mikheil Saakashvili] has proven that it is not about the presidential chair; he has made an unprecedented decision and cut his own term in office by over a year.” Indeed, she continued, Saakashvili was the only candidate capable of handling “the serious challenges” that Georgia faced. “Saakashvili has experience, an international reputation and, maybe other candidates are good individuals, but to rule the country is very difficult,” Roelofs said. Marina Madichi, Davit Gamkrelidze’s wife, in a rare moment of verbal combativeness, jumped in at this stage, saying: “Georgia’s history has not started with this government and will not end with this government.” Meanwhile, the real debate between Alania and Roelofs continued, with Alania saying it was difficult to rule in a country with no genuine system of checks and balances. “Of course it is difficult when one person is in charge of everything – the mayor’s office, Parliament and the entire government,” she said. “Power should be distributed among different branches of the government.” When asked to describe their respective husbands, Roelofs said hers was “a man of his word;” Alania responded that Natelashvili was “very principled and hard-working” and Madichi said Gamkrelidze was “a just and fair person.”
http://www.civil.ge/eng_/article.php?id=16747