(7 Jan 2008) SHOTLIST
1. Pan from Georgian President, Mikhail Saakashvili, to reporters
2. Close up of reporter taking notes
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgian President:
"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 percent outright in the first round, it's called a landslide and so I don't see why Georgia should be otherwise, I mean it is no longer percentage in 90s but percentage in 90s happen in some other countries. If you want to be a European democracy, this is quite a success, this kind of percentage."
4. Cutaways of Saakashvili during interview
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgian President:
"I believe there are many aspects that need to be criticised. This is still a country in transition. 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 and this election has just proven that."
6. Cutaways of Saakashvili, globe in room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgian President:
"With regard to the political process, yes we need to be consensus builders. Yes we need to agree on main things. We can never agree on some of the things, because that's how every democratic nation is."
8. Cutaway of Saakashvili's hands
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgian President:
"Everybody has the right to have peaceful rallies. I think unruly behaviour will not be tolerated, but peaceful rallies is one of the ways to do political campaigns."
10. Cutaway of Saakashvili during interview
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgian President:
"Georgian people have expressed their will. Now how far we'll get there, how fast we'll get there that will depend upon developing our democratic system. Further reforms, further changes - Georgia has performed very well in technical terms, in terms of NATO qualifications, we've done the most successful military reform in this region. Now, in terms of democracy, I think the latest elections, the last elections, provided us with additional ammunition for the summit in Bucharest. I think Ukraine also joining forces with us in order to have an application for NATO will also be an additional factor to consider in the region as a whole. But of course it is a complicated picture, in the end it is not a technical decision, it is a political decision. and when it comes to a political decision I really count on the goodwill of most of the especially bigger Western European nations. We certainly have big support on the part of the United States."
12. Various of Saakashvili during interview
STORYLINE
Mikhail Saakashvili, re-elected as Georgia's president, said on Monday that the vote demonstrated his ex-Soviet republic was on the road to becoming a European democracy.
"I believe there are many aspects that need to be criticised, this is still a country in transition. This is still not a full-fledged, very well-formed, crystallised society. We still have lots of things to do," Saakashvili said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"But I think we are on the right track and this election has just proven that."
But the election, in which Saakashvili received 52.8 percent of the vote according to preliminary results, received a mixed evaluation from international observers who said it was overall in accordance with democratic standards, but showed an array of problems that need to be addressed urgently.
"I would not exaggerate the idea of a deep split," Saakashvili said.
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