SABRA LANE: Oksana Antonenko, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, says the vote only patches over parliamentary problems in Georgia.
She predicts the President will experience unrest again, unless he includes his opponents in his next government.
OKSANA ANTONENKO: Political conciliation in Georgia really means power sharing, and this a very difficult model for Saakashvili to adopt, really, because over the years, after the Rose Revolution, he very much governed by a very narrow circle of people around him.
But now, I think that his popularity is down, and he only received, you know, slightly over 50 per cent of votes, he really has to share power.
08 January 2008: ABC News
TONY EASTLEY: Georgia's leader Mikhail Saakashvili has won a second term as president and, based on current results, won't need to worry about a second round of voting to claim the country's top job.
Mr Saakashvili has claimed more than 52 per cent of the vote, which he describes as a landslide victory.
Opposition leaders say the poll was unfair, but that's a claim not backed by international observers.
The Georgian President ran into trouble in November, when he declared a state of emergency and police were called in to break up violent street demonstrations against his government.
Sabra Lane compiled this report.
SABRA LANE: Forty-year-old Mikhail Saakashvili led Georgia's bloodless Rose Revolution in 2003.
Back then, the smooth talking, US educated lawyer won 97 per cent of the vote, ousting former leader Eduard Shevardnadze and a regime largely credited as being corrupt.
Mr Saakashvili was praised for introducing reforms to the former Soviet republic, but his popularity waned as critics claimed he'd also introduced measures curbing free speech, and that he was ignoring the problems of ordinary Georgians.
Today, the president-elect claimed victory in Sunday's vote, describing it as a landslide win.
A win, he says, proves his country is on the road to becoming a European-style democracy, and he denies there are deep divisions.
MIKHAIL SAAKASHVILI: I would not exaggerate the idea of deep split. The election campaign went very well. In every normal European country, if somebody gets more than 50 per cent outright in first round, it's called a landslide, and so I don't see why Georgia should be otherwise.
SABRA LANE: But his opponents don't see it that way. They claim the vote was rigged.
Mr Saakashvili was heavily criticised just two months ago, when he declared a state of emergency, calling in police to violently break up demonstrations.
People took their frustrations to the streets, protesting against low living standards and his government.
Under pressure from the West, Mr Saakashvili responded by calling a snap election.
He won nearly 52 per cent of the vote, a majority, thwarting the need for a second run-off ballot.
But he concedes he'll have his work cut out.
MIKHAIL SAAKASHVILI: This is still not a full-fledged, very well-formed, crystallised society. I mean we still have lots of things to do, but I think we are on the right track.
SABRA LANE: International observers say while there were some problems with the presidential election, they're of a technical nature, not voter intimidation.
The Council of Europe had observers in Georgia for the vote. The organisation's secretary-general is Terry Davis.
TERRY DAVIS: They concluded that the result was a fair result, but the organisation, as I say, left some things to be desired, and that is disappointing.
SABRA LANE: Oksana Antonenko, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, says the vote only patches over parliamentary problems in Georgia.
She predicts the President will experience unrest again, unless he includes his opponents in his next government.
OKSANA ANTONENKO: Political conciliation in Georgia really means power sharing, and this a very difficult model for Saakashvili to adopt, really, because over the years, after the Rose Revolution, he very much governed by a very narrow circle of people around him.
But now, I think that his popularity is down, and he only received, you know, slightly over 50 per cent of votes, he really has to share power.
SABRA LANE: For now, the President is promising to do just that, and it's an election promise he'll be under much international pressure to keep.
TONY EASTLEY: Sabra Lane reporting.
