Georgia invests its votes and hopes in revolutionary leader

With surging hopes in an almost festive atmosphere, Georgians flocked to the polls Sunday to choose a replacement for former President Eduard Shevardnadze, who was driven from office in a peaceful revolt six weeks ago.

Nearly everyone emerging from the voting booths in this dirt-poor agricultural town 30 miles northeast of the capital Tbilisi said they cast their ballots for Mikhael Saakashvili, a former New York attorney turned fiery opposition leader. Early exit polls suggested the same trend was holding throughout much of the country, as Georgians embraced the promise of sweeping change after a decade of economic stagnation, corruption, and widespread poverty under Mr. Shevardnadze.

"We hope a new president will bring us a normal life at last," said Dali Rostomashvili, who held hands with her husband, Givi, as they explained why they'd voted for Mr. Saakashvili. "We grow all our own food in our garden, just to keep from going hungry," she said. "We really need a better life."

Sagarejo, a quiet community of 50,000 in the shadow of the snow-peaked Caucasus mountains, has seen most local industry shut down over the past decade, and even its famous grape-growing business has plunged into decline for lack of markets and investment. About half the male population here is unemployed, local officials say, and those lucky enough to have jobs earn an average of $1 per day.

On election day, hundreds of people thronged the town's tree-lined streets in the bright winter sunshine. "I don't know anyone who doesn't support Saakashvili," said Misha Davitelashvili, an unemployed construction worker, after casting his ballot. "We hope he will open the factories, fight corruption, and give us a new life. The people are with him, so he will succeed."

At one of Sagarejo's polling stations, 210 out of about 700 registered voters had cast ballots by midday, every single one for Saakashvili, says Teona Sekhniashvili, a researcher who is part of a nationwide exit poll being conducted by the nongovernmental, internationally funded Institute for Polling and Marketing. "The [five] other candidates simply have no presence here."

Saakashvili, a former protégé of Shevardnadze, quit his post as justice minister two years ago and launched an opposition movement. In the wake of last November's parliamentary elections, condemned as fraudulent by international observers, he led three weeks of escalating street protests in Tbilisi that culminated in Shevardnadze's resignation.

Not everyone is overjoyed at prospects of a Saakashvili-led Georgia. Regarded by backers as a canny and charismatic leader and by critics as an unscrupulous populist, the telegenic, US-educated Saakashvili has moved rapidly to exploit the near-total defeat and disarray of Shevardnadze's forces.

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