January 16, 2008	Wednesday	Muharram 06, 1429

TBILISI: Ex-Soviet Georgia has emerged from months of political crisis with its leader Mikheil Saakashvili humbled and its democracy strengthened by glimmers of a genuine opposition movement, analysts say.

The turmoil has yet to reach its final act. Tens of thousands protested in the capital Tbilisi on Sunday against what they say was mass fraud in the snap presidential poll won by Saakashvili on Jan 5.

The opposition is vowing to continue protests until the results are overturned and a second round of voting is held.

Analysts said that with international observers backing the election as largely fair, its unlikely opponents will succeed before Saakashvili’s inauguration on Jan 20 or 21.

But the opposition is putting itself in a strong position to contest legislative elections due in the spring, analysts said.

That could transform Georgia’s parliament into a truly representative body for the first time since the republic gained its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

“Saakashvili is facing a very serious challenge to his authority, but this is good for the development of Georgia’s political culture,” said Giorgi Margvelashvili of the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs. “The ongoing developments are of a democratic character.” Instead of fighting to win elections, opposition forces here have traditionally instead focused on overturning the results, as Saakashvili did when he led the peaceful 2003 Rose Revolution that ousted former president Eduard Shevardnadze.

But the last few months have marked an important step toward building a legitimate opposition movement, analysts said.

“The strengthening of the opposition may be a sign of Georgia’s democracy maturing, but only if the opposition’s unity is not temporary and if it can start to become institutionalised,” said political analyst Archil Gegeshidze.

“The coming weeks and months will show if this is possible.”—AFP