Georgia’s newly elected President Salome Zurabishvili on Thursday hailed her victory as a step forward for women and a move closer to Europe for the ex-Soviet republic.
With all votes counted, the country’s election commission said the French-born ex-diplomat, backed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, had taken 59.52 percent of the second-round vote.
Her rival Grigol Vashadze, from an alliance of 11 opposition parties led by exiled ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM), took 40.48 percent.
The opposition denounced the election as a fraud. But while raising some serious concerns, foreign observers said the vote was “competitive” and well-run.
