President Mikheil Saakashvili sworn to lead Georgia
Mikheil Saakashvili was sworn in to lead for a second five year term as his opponents rallied for his election win to be overturned.
“I promise before the nation and God to protect the Georgian constitution,” Saakashvili, 40, said on Sunday in lavish ceremony on the steps of parliament watched by thousands of supporters and foreign dignitaries.
“We held the most democratic elections in Georgia’s history and in this election you made the choice for the unity of Georgia,” he said.
Saakashvili’s win in 5th January presidential elections has been widely recognised abroad despite the opposition’s objections, boosting a democratic image severely damaged by the violent break-up of opposition protests in November.
But tens of thousands of opposition protesters gathered at a Tbilisi racetrack in another part of the capital to call for the official results that gave Saakashvili 53 per cent of the vote to be overturned.
“We have to provide a counterweight to the masquerade that is taking place on Rustaveli Avenue,” opposition leader Constantine Gamsakhurdia told the crowd in a reference to the inauguration. “We will not give up our fight.”
After taking his oath, Saakashvili watched a military parade of soldiers, tanks and heavy artillery roll down Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi’s main thoroughfare, as fighter jets roared overhead.
The inauguration was to be completed on Monday with a blessing for Saakashvili at the 1,000 year old Orthodox Christian Bagrati cathedral near the western town of Kutaisi.
“I promise before the nation and God to protect the Georgian constitution,” Saakashvili, 40, said on Sunday in lavish ceremony on the steps of parliament watched by thousands of supporters and foreign dignitaries.
“We held the most democratic elections in Georgia’s history and in this election you made the choice for the unity of Georgia,” he said.
Saakashvili’s win in 5th January presidential elections has been widely recognised abroad despite the opposition’s objections, boosting a democratic image severely damaged by the violent break-up of opposition protests in November.
But tens of thousands of opposition protesters gathered at a Tbilisi racetrack in another part of the capital to call for the official results that gave Saakashvili 53 per cent of the vote to be overturned.
“We have to provide a counterweight to the masquerade that is taking place on Rustaveli Avenue,” opposition leader Constantine Gamsakhurdia told the crowd in a reference to the inauguration. “We will not give up our fight.”
After taking his oath, Saakashvili watched a military parade of soldiers, tanks and heavy artillery roll down Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi’s main thoroughfare, as fighter jets roared overhead.
The inauguration was to be completed on Monday with a blessing for Saakashvili at the 1,000 year old Orthodox Christian Bagrati cathedral near the western town of Kutaisi.
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