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“I agree with international expert’s estimations about Georgian presidential elections. I myself visited some electoral centers and I can say that this was for the first time Georgia passes such free and transparent elections,” said Van Baiburtyan, the deputy of Georgian Parliament and the vice president of Armenian union in Georgia. According to him the election results showed that the competition among the candidates was fair and real. “It was 17:00 when the first results showed that Sahakashvili collected 52.4, Gachechiladze – 25.9 and Patarkatsishvili – 7 percent,” he said.

To the question whether it is fair to hold second stage of the elections as the opposition insists on, Baiburtyan answered “The opposition still cries out that they won. It is interesting, but 20 or even 40 days before the elections they announced that their candidate was also elected. Today, some say that the second stage is necessary; some insist that their candidate won, and some say they are sure Sahakashvili did not get so high percentage of votes. But it is impossible to steal 35% of votes as Gachechiladze announced. They can steal 1 or 2 percents and not 35% totally. Generally all the six candidates together collected 30-35%.”

As for Djavakhk and other neighbor regions Baiburtyan said “Sahakashvili got higher results from Djavakhk but not the highest, as in 2003 he received 95% from Akhalkalak and 96% from Ninocmindai, whereas this time the results were as followed 90.9 and 92%. The results were the same in the neighbor regions.”

Van Baiburtyan assured that this candidate is of great use for Armenians living in Georgia. He also said that street meetings will continue as the opposite parties do not adjust to the new conditions.