Giorgi Margvelashvili, the candidate from the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, has won the presidential election in Georgia with 62.12% of votes, the Central Electoral Commission of Georgia reports. His main competitors - David Bakradze and Nino Burjanadze - obtained 21.72% and 10.18% of votes, respectively.
The total electorate in Georgia is 3,537.719 people. On October 27, the election turnout was 46.6%. To recall, the President of Georgia is elected for 5 years and can serve for no more than two consecutive terms.
Margvelashvili was born on September 4, 1969. In 1992, he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology, Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University. In 1994 he studied at the Faculty of Sociology at the Central European University. He holds PhD. Before coming into politics, he worked as a guide in the mountains and assistant manager at a publishing house. In 1995-2000 he was an interpreter at the U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI), later he held the post of the assistant and head of one of the programs at NDI. In 2000-2002 Margvelashvili was the rector of the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), in 2006-2010 he headed the research department. Margvelashvili's latest post was the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia.
On May 11, 2013, the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, which is composed of 6 parties, advanced Margvelashvili's nominee for president of Georgia. Margvelashvili himself represents none of the 6 parties of the coalition.
European independent observes think that despite the modest turnout, Margvelashvili's victory is quite convincing to ensure his legitimacy and the population's confidence in him. They consider that the past election in Georgia turned out to be the best election in the whole region's history.