(25 Nov 2007) SHOTLIST
POOL
24 November, 2007
1. Wide Georgian Chancellery
2. Cabinet ministers seated
3. SOUNDBITE: (Georgian) Mikhail Saakashvili, President of Georgia:
"The Parliament Speaker will be acting President for the next 40 days when I will be totally involved in the presidential election campaign."
4. Georgian President Michael Saakashvili and Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze seated
5. Wide of cabinet ministers meeting
AP-
25 November, 2007
6. Various interiors of parliamentary session
7. Various of protesters with banners and placards
8. SOUNDBITE: (Georgian) Goga Khaindrava, Opposition Leader:
"I want to congratulate the whole of Georgia because Saakshvili has stepped down. The Saakashvili era has ended in this country, and I hope we will not return to that dark period. The people have achieved this (Saakashvili stepping down) through their strength, faith, and devotion to their country forcing that criminal to step down."
9. Various of demonstration
10 Vano Noniashvili, Georgian President Saakashvili's spokesman walking to podium
11. SOUNDBITE: (Georgian) Vano Noniashvili saying:
"I am informing you that the president stepped down on Nov. 25, 2007. I remind you that stepping down before the end of the term is a formality and necessity because of early presidential elections in Georgia. Mikhail Saakashvili will stand as a presidential candidate in the elections.
12. Cutaway of media
13. Various of opposition demonstration
14. Demonstrators with placards reading: (English) "media freedom"
15. SOUNDBITE: (English) David Usupashivli, Leader of the opposition leader Republican Party:
"We are demanding immediate opening of "imedi" TV and observation of basic standards of free media in all TV companies in Georgia, stopping political repressions without which we do not think that the process called elections will be elections".
16. Wide opposition rally
STORYLINE
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili stepped down on Sunday to start campaigning for an early presidential vote while demonstrators at an opposition rally demanded that authorities put a top independent TV station back on air.
The protest in the Georgian capital attracted about 30,000 people, the first major opposition rally since police violently dispersed anti-government demonstrators earlier this month in Saakashvili's worst crisis since his election in 2004.
President Saakashvili, announced on Saturday that he would be standing down to campaign in the election.
"The Parliament Speaker will be acting President for the next 40 days when I will be totally involved in the presidential election campaign." Saakashvili told a news conference on Saturday.
Saakashvili resigned as required by national law, handing over his powers to his close ally, parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze.
"I am informing you that the president stepped down on Nov. 25, 2007. I remind you that stepping down before the end of the term is a formality and necessity because of early presidential elections in Georgia. Mikhail Saakashvili will stand as a presidential candidate in the elections," Presidential Spokesman Vano Noniashvili said.
Saakashvili called the election to defuse tensions after police dispersed opposition rallies on Nov. 7 with clubs and tear gas, injuring hundreds.
The U.S.-educated Saakashvili had won praise for his efforts to integrate the small Caucasus nation with the West.
But he has faced growing discontent over the slow pace of reforms, persistent poverty and what critics call increasingly authoritarian policies.
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