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| Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili admits election loss | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| President Mikheil Saakashvili has admitted his party has lost Georgia's parliamentary election, in a live TV announcement. | |
| He said the Georgian Dream bloc of his main rival, billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, had won Monday's election. | He said the Georgian Dream bloc of his main rival, billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, had won Monday's election. |
| Victory for Mr Ivanishvili means the first democratic transfer of power in Georgia's post-Soviet history. | Victory for Mr Ivanishvili means the first democratic transfer of power in Georgia's post-Soviet history. |
| Mr Saakashvili, who has led the country since 2003, will remain in power until presidential elections next year. | |
| However, under agreed reforms the parliament and prime minister will acquire greater powers than him after that election. | |
| Early results showed Georgian Dream ahead in the party list vote, which accounts for 77 of the 150 seats. | Early results showed Georgian Dream ahead in the party list vote, which accounts for 77 of the 150 seats. |
| President Saakashvili said it was clear that Georgian Dream had won a majority. | |
| Earlier Mr Ivanishvili, Georgia's richest man, had already declared victory. | |
| Mr Saakashvili, a pro-Western leader, has warned that the Georgian Dream bloc will move Georgia away from the West and back into Moscow's sphere of influence. Russia defeated Georgian forces in a brief war in 2008. | |
| In his TV address Mr Saakashvili said "it's clear from the preliminary results that the opposition has the lead and it should form the government - and I as president should help them with this". | |
| His United National Movement would become "an opposition force" and would "fight for the future of our country", he said, acknowledging big differences between it and Georgian Dream. | |
| "Democracy works and the Georgian people take the decision and this is what we deeply respect," he added. |