A presidential election was held in the Republic of Georgia on January 4, 2004. The election followed the resignation of former President Eduard Shevardnadze. As expected, the main opposition leader, Mikhail Saakashvili, was soon shown by exit polls to be heading for an overwhelming victory. According to preliminary results issued on January 6 by Georgia's Central Election Commission, Saakashvili won over 97% of the votes cast.
Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres (26,911 sq mi), and its 2017 population is about 3.718 million. Georgia is a unitary semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy.
Eduard Ambrosiyevich Shevardnadze was a Georgian politician and diplomat. He served as First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party (GPC), the de facto leader of Soviet Georgia from 1972 to 1985 and as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. Shevardnadze was responsible for many key decisions in Soviet foreign policy during the Gorbachev Era including reunification of Germany. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he was President of Georgia from 1992 to 2003. He was forced to retire in 2003 as a consequence of the bloodless Rose Revolution.
Imereti is a region in Georgia situated along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River.
Zaza Sikharulidze is a Georgian politician, poet, publicist, attorney and academic. He is one of the leaders of the National Liberation Movement and is involved in civil society. He is the founder of the non-governmental movement of people with disabilities in Georgia.
Results
Summary of the 4 January 2004 Presidential election results
Georgian law requires a 50% turnout for elections to be valid. The Chairman of the Georgian Central Election Commission, Zurab Tchiaberashvili, said that since about 1,763,000 voters had participated - over 80% of those eligible to vote - "according to the preliminary information, the elections are valid."
Zurab Tchiaberashvili is a Georgian politician and diplomat. He currently is a leading figure in the opposition United National Movement, after most recently serving as a governor of the Kakheti region.
Early on January 5 Saakashvili claimed victory, although no official figures had been released at that time. He thanked his supporters, who were gathered in the Philharmonic Hall in Tbilisi, and also thanked the voters. "The whole of Georgia has won," he said.
Tbilisi, in some countries also still known by its pre-1936 international designation Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million people. Founded in the 5th century AD by Vakhtang I of Iberia, since then Tbilisi served as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Between 1801 and 1917, then part of the Russian Empire, Tbilisi was the seat of the Imperial Viceroy, governing both Southern and Northern Caucasus.
"The primary tasks to be implemented from the first days of my presidency include introduction of a Prime Minister's post, appointment of a date for parliamentary elections and implementation of anti-corruption measures in the country," Saakashvili said.
Saakashvili was inaugurated as President in Tbilisi on January 25, 2004.
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