Russia, US hail Georgia election

Russia and the United States yesterday praised Georgia on successfully holding parliamentary elections, in which billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili defeated President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is considered as a staunch US ally. Russia said it hoped the election victory in Georgia of Bidzina Ivanishvili’s opposition coalition will help normalize relations between the two neighbors, which fought a brief war in 2008. Moscow and Tbilisi broke diplomatic ties after Georgian forces were routed in five days in August 2008 in a war that ended with Russia recognizing breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. “It is obvious that Georgian society has voted for changes. We hope in the end they will allow Georgia to start the normalization, establishment of constructive and respectful relations with neighbors,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement. In a congratulatory note sent on Tuesday, the US congratulated Georgians saying the polls had set a “regional and global example” for a democratic transfer of power. “The United States congratulates the people of Georgia for the successful completion of yesterday’s parliamentary elections,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said, in a statement. “Georgian citizens have set a regional and global example by conducting a competitive campaign, freely exercising their democratic rights, and affirming their commitment to undertake a peaceful transfer of power.” Monday’s polls, which set the scene for a rare peaceful transfer of power in the former Soviet Union, were described as an “important step” for Western-backed Georgia’s fledgling democracy by international election observers and were praised by Tbilisi’s main ally Washington. “Georgian citizens have set a regional and global example by conducting a competitive campaign, freely exercising their democratic rights, and affirming their commitment to undertake a peaceful transfer of power,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement on Tuesday. Although Saakashvili remains president, the defeat of his United National Movement by Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream coalition in Monday vote means he will lose control of parliament and the government. His acceptance of the unexpected defeat marks one of the first times in Georgia or any ex-Soviet state, excluding the Baltic countries, have seen a peaceful transfer of power since the fall of the USSR. Russia refuses to deal with Saakashvili, whose second and final five-year term will come to an end next year after October presidential elections. Meanwhile, Georgia was yesterday preparing for a big political transition after the opposition’s shock victory in parliamentary elections. But the opposition leader -- who may himself become prime minister -- has already called on the president to resign and the two could be facing a period of turbulent cohabitation. Despite his party’s defeat, Saakashvili is due to remain in office until presidential polls next year. and his allies have warned the opposition not to stir up a constitutional crisis that could hurt the ex-Soviet state. “If they plan to carry out some experiments and threaten the constitutional system, it is a very dangerous game,” the head of Georgia’s national security council Giga Bokeria said in televised comments late Tuesday. The EU also praised the vote but called on the country’s main political rivals to “work together in the interests of Georgia”. “Both responsible government and constructive opposition are essential parts of a functioning democratic society,” EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said in a statement. Ivanishvili says he intends to become prime minister, a role that will take on wide-ranging new powers when the presidency’s remit is reduced in constitutional changes that go into force after Saakashvili steps down in 2013. In his first post-poll news conference Tuesday, Ivanishvili promised to maintain Georgia’s pro-Western orientation and continue with its bid to join NATO and the EU but also to mend ties with arch-foe Russia. Arab news