DEMOCRACY IS RISK:

Georgian leader may win gamble: Mikheil Saakashvili took a risk in calling the election, a referendum on his rule aimed at quieting popular discontent. (Megan K. Stack, 1/06/08, Los Angeles Times)

Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili sent his countrymen to the polls Saturday in a snap presidential election, a risky gamble designed to quiet complaints of creeping authoritarianism and prove the once and would-be future president is still a pro-democracy icon.

With his credibility on the line, Saakashvili abruptly stepped down as president a year and a half ahead of schedule and called for this weekend's vote as a referendum on his rule. [...]

Early results indicated that Saakashvili had won, but just barely.

Monitors hail Georgian election (BBC, 1/06/08)

A snap presidential election in the ex- Soviet republic of Georgia was broadly democratic, though it had shortcomings, foreign observers say.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 6, 2008 8:45 AM