Free Republic

10/28/2013 8:52 AM ET Georgia's pro-Russia ex-vice premier Giorgi Margvelashvili has claimed victory in Sunday's presidential election, media reports said. People of the former Soviet republic went to the polls on Sunday to elect a successor to President Mikheil Saakashvili, who had served the maximum two terms in office. Exit polls by a local TV network show Margvelashvili outdistancing other candidates by nearly 67 percent of the vote. His immediate rival and Saakashvili's nominee David Bakradze has conceded defeat. Margvelashvili thanked supporters on Monday even though the election commission was yet to announce the final results. Margvelashvili, who had also...

From RT on YouTube: A new EU report may finally answers the question as to which country started the Russo-Georgian war in August 2008. The European Union conducted a nine-month investigation into the issue and has concluded that it was Georgia, more specifically Saakashvili, who triggered the conflict. So why was the U.S. Government, along with the mainstream media, so intent on blaming Russia for the war? And what will these new revelations mean for Georgian relations with the United States and Europe? RT's Dina Gusovsky talks to Tsotne Bakuria, former member of the Georgian Parliament.

Editors Note: Updated 8/9/05 to note Tina Khidasheli's resignation in the eighth paragraph. A war of words is gathering steam after Georgia’s Central Election Commission revoked the registration papers for one leading opposition group. The decision, coming on the heels of the commission’s rejection of an opposition-sponsored referendum for direct mayoral elections, has fueled opposition claims that the government has little tolerance for political dissent. The government has dismissed the claims as groundless. Meanwhile, in one of the first attempts at coordinated opposition since the 2003 Rose Revolution, four Georgian opposition parties have announced plans to join forces for this...