Resignation clears the way for snap presidential election on January 5

Mikheil Saakashvili stepped down from the presidency on Sunday, clearing the way for parliament to officially set January 5 as the date for Georgia’s next presidential election.

Saakashvili’s resignation, in following a constitutional procedure allowing for snap elections, has been expected since announcing the election on November 8. That surprise announcement came a day after riot police violently broke up anti-government protests in Tbilisi, leading authorities to declare a state of emergency in the face of severe unrest.

Nino Burjanadze, previously the speaker of parliament, is now the acting president.

By calling new elections nearly a year before his term was due to expire, Saakashvili is betting on a resounding victory to give him renewed trust from both Georgian voters and Western allies, anxious after the turmoil of November 7.

“We want to win not just a new mandate [on January 5],” Saakashvili told government ministers on Saturday, “but a mandate which will completely strengthen Georgia’s international position.”

Saakashvili was officially nominated as a presidential candidate by his National Movement at a party congress on Friday, held on the day marking the fourth anniversary of the Rose Revolution which brought Saakashvili to power.

January 5 will “decide Georgia’s future,” he told party members, assuring them that the country’s pro-Western path is still open and proceeding to schedule.

“If everything goes according to plan I’m sure in 2008 Georgia will become a candidate country for NATO membership,” Saakashvili said.

Attendees applauded enthusiastically, lighting candles when Saakashvili began to speak about the breakaway region of Abkhazia. “My life will lose its purpose if Georgia’s unity isn’t restored, if integration into Europe doesn’t continue and the lives of Georgians don’t reach European levels,” Saakashvili said. “I often dream about Sokhumi [the de facto secessionist capital of Abkhazia]…and sometimes I have nightmares where I go to Sokhumi but all the roads are blocked. With the presidential election on January 5, we will either open these roads or close them forever.” In an allusion to Imedi TV, the network founded by wealthy presidential candidate Badri Patarkatsishvili and raided by authorities on November 7 for allegedly inciting protestors to violence, Saakashvili warned that Georgia faces a “machine of lies and attempts to isolate the country.” Saakashvili triumphantly announced that his new prime minister, Lado Gurgenidze, has come up with the resources needed to expand the government’s social programs. Reiterating previous pledges, Saakashvili promised that pensions and public salaries would increase from December. Saakashvili also warned his supporters to expect “provocations” in the lead-up to the presidential election. The Central Election Commission says at least nine people have begun the filing process to run in the election.