Even with those exit polls, which pitted Saakashvili’s vicotry with 54%, 28% interviewed refused to disclosed who they would vote for. It doesn’t take to be a rocket scientist to understand why someone would not disclose their choice. What would be result of exit poll if those people we counted in? The truth is that a lot of people are afraid of possible repressions from the authorities.

I personally think Saakashvili is not a president yet. The opposition will not back down before the violations are investigated and are called the right name. Otherwise, I dont see how they could succeed in parliamentary elections, if similar “challenges” are observed and then overlooked.

Unsophisticated and something that I would personally have hoped the international community have responded to by saying, “Misha… what the f**** are you up playing at? Do you think we’re stupid?” I don’t think that it was a mistake for the monitors to issues their conclusion when they did, however.

I am still somewhat confused as to how their report and their statement were almost two separate things. Almost like two different elections, in fact.

Now, I’m not saying that the opposition won. Some of what I’m hearing from Tbilisi is that many are surprised they did so well considering. However, what is interesting is that usually the international community says the ultimate conclusion and verdict is drawn by the population itself.

And that’s what the opposition is trying to do. That’s part of the democratic process and actually, it might even be encouraging to see this happen although the international media reporting Misha’s re-election prematurely was a little questionable. Yes, I almost fell for it as well, but anyway, things are still happening.

I’m not saying that the opposition won. I don’t think there’s any evidence for that. However, despite the administrative resources at his disposal, and the amount of illegalities even recorded by the OSCE, Saakashvili’s victory is slight enough for there to be reason to examine the issue of recounts and so on.

Like I said, it’s part of the democratic process, and it will be interesting to see if the opposition succeed in calling for a second round. However, that will have to be through lawful means. I mean, they have to have reason and evidence to call for the invalidation of ballots or recounts.

Let’s see. Apparently there will be a rally called for Sunday and I’m tempted enough to maybe venture up to Tbilisi to see depending on what happens next.

Moreover, these “challenges” were not of accidental character. I recall one of the observers, saying something like, such things happen in Europe all the time — son goes into the ballot box with his old mother — that is normal and understandable. NO — these violations were far more serious! And telling Georgians that they should make sure that such things don’t happen in the future is simply cynical. Next time there are elections, they will say exactly the same thing: “progress has been noted, but certain challenges remain”…