In Georgia, high hopes, hurdles

After days of political protest and, finally, revelry at the peaceful departure of President Eduard Shevardnadze, the sun rose Monday on a near-empty parliament square - and a new reality in Georgia.

A handful of diehard protesters still huddled around smoking fires, nursing their own visions of what Georgia's "rose revolution" means to them - and voicing high expectations for Georgia's new leadership that analysts say could be impossible to meet.

"We have such hopes everything will change, so that all people have jobs and will be happy," says Kakha Mtchedlidze, a young artist from the eastern provinces who has yet to land his first job in Georgia's impoverished economy, and says he needs work "like a thirsty man needs water."

"A family should have a piece of bread to put on the table, and some clothes," says Mr. Mtchedlidze. "And freedom, of course. Nothing else."

Satisfying such demands may prove harder for Georgia's new leaders than storming the parliament and seizing power.

Led by interim president Nino Burjanadze, today's leaders - who were yesterday's opposition - will have to move immediately, analysts say, to balance Georgian dreams with the harsh realities of the dysfunctional kleptocracy Mr. Shevardnadze left behind.

"It's very difficult for people. They are waiting for salaries and pensions today - not a month or a year from now," says Natia Zambakhidze, a political commentator on Rustavi 2 television. "It's not possible to solve all problems immediately, but one should be solved with dramatic steps as a first step for the people," says Ms. Zambakhidze. "Now [the former opposition] have no one else to blame, if things don't get done."

But the list of top priorities equals the list of Georgia's problems. The challenges include ensuring that the change of power remains nonviolent, and dealing with the apparatchiks of the former regime, who have everything to lose.

In her first speech to the nation Monday, Ms. Burjanadze pledged to hold presidential and parliamentary elections within 45 days, in line with the constitution. But election experts here say it will take more than two months just to upgrade voters lists, a crucial step toward making sure the vote is fair.

The protests that led to Shevardnadze's ouster were sparked by a Nov. 2 parliamentary election discredited by allegations of fraud.

Corruption is one of the most deeply rooted problems here. Georgia runs on patronage and family ties. Although the US has spent $1.3 billion in aid in Georgia over the past decade - and the European Union even more - well over half the population of five million lives below the poverty line. The average daily wage is just $1 a day.

"Corruption has been the biggest disincentive for outside investment," says Roy Reeve, head of the Georgia mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has 85 border monitors in the region. He notes that problem areas for the new government also include the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

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