Saakashvili rejects giving up Georgia presidency

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's party on Wednesday rejected calls for him to resign following the stunning opposition election victory that will transform the country's political landscape. The victory of the Georgian Dream coalition of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili in parliamentary polls will give Georgia a new government and may cool tensions with its top foe Russia which cautiously welcomed the result. Saakashvili had gracefully conceded a surprise defeat in Monday's vote and promised to facilitate the formation of the next government, a rarity in an ex-Soviet region used to revolutions and autocrats who cling to their chairs. But the opposition leader, who may himself become prime minister, called on the president to resign immediately -- although he later retracted the demand which Saakashvili's party warned could cause confrontation. "Speaking about snap presidential polls today shows disrespect to the Georgian people and violates the constitution," the outgoing chairman of parliament from the ruling party, David Bakradze, told a news conference. He said he hoped it was "just an isolated incident amid euphoria caused by electoral victory" and would not lead to "crisis and confrontation".Despite his party's defeat, Saakashvili is due to remain in office until presidential polls in a year's time. Ivanishvili on Wednesday offered dialogue with Saakashvili and said that he was not issuing any "political ultimatums". "We are ready for constructive relationships with representatives of the current authorities, including with the incumbent president," he said in a statement. Georgia's arch foe Russia, which has refused to speak to Saakashvili since the brief war between the two countries in 2008, said it hoped the opposition win would help to restore diplomatic relations. "Clearly Georgian society voted for change," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement. "We hope that in the end it will let Georgia move to a normalisation and establishment of constructive and respectful relations with their neighbours. Russia would welcome this development," he said. Unlike the president, Ivanishvili has personal ties to Russia, where he made his colossal fortune in the 1990s and resided until 2003. He has promised to maintain Georgia's pro-Western orientation and continue with its bid to join NATO but also to mend ties with Russia. But the next government is unlikely to stop calling for the return of two Georgian breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where thousands of Russian troops have been stationed since Moscow recognised the rebel provinces as independent states after the war. Ivanishvili also said Wednesday his first foreign visit would be to Washington, which he called Georgia's "main partner and friend". 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. NATO said the polls were a "historic moment in Georgia's democratic development". "These elections were a litmus test and Georgia has passed the test," NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a news conference in Brussels.The EU also praised the vote but called on the country's main political rivals to "work together in the interests of Georgia". Analysts however said the transition of power could be fraught with difficulties. "It will be taking place in a political culture with an aversion to compromise, where the two sides just recently declared each other mortal enemies," Caucasus expert Thomas de Waal wrote in 'Foreign Policy' magazine. After almost 99 percent of electoral precincts declared results, Georgian Dream was leading Saakashvili's United National Movement by 54.94 to 40.33 percent in the proportional ballot that will decide just over half of the parliamentary seats. According to partial results, the opposition bloc also appeared set to take more than half of the first-past-the-post constituencies which will make up the rest of the parliament, and to win all 10 seats in its stronghold Tbilisi. 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. But under the constitution, he will have to be nominated for the role by his rival Saakashvili whose United National Movement party has ruled since the 2003 "Rose Revolution" but which will now go into opposition.