Georgia elects oligarch PM Bidzina Ivanishvili's candidate as president

Georgia has elected a new president in a vote of confidence for the country's eccentric oligarch prime minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili.

The victory of Ivanishvili's candidate, Giorgi Margvelashvili, in Sunday's presidential election cements the prime minister's triumph over the country's outgoing leader, Mikheil Saakashvili.

The pro-western Saakashvili, who led the so-called rose revolution, in 2003 and ruled the country ever since, has lost popularity in recent years owing to voter fatigue and allegations of authoritarianism.

His United National Movement lost parliamentary elections to Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream coalition last year, with the oligarch promising to lavish some of his multibillion-pound fortune on the country.

Ivanishvili said in the runup to the vote that if Margvelashvili did not win at least 60% of votes, he would be personally offended and lose enthusiasm for financing reform.

With 90% of the votes counted by Monday morning, Margvelashvili had 62% of the vote, easily clearing the 50% threshold required to win the election without a second-round runoff. He was followed by David Bakradze, of Saakashvili's United National Movement, on 22% and the former parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadze on 10%.

Under constitutional reforms introduced by Saakashvili, the new presidential role will be largely ceremonial, with the bulk of power resting with the prime minister.

Ivanishvili, after just a year in the post, has said he intends to resign and hand over to a hand-picked successor, though he has refused either to name his preferred candidate or to explain what his own future role will be.

Ivanishvili says he wants to turn Georgia into a "perfect European democracy" but it is unclear whether this is compatible with his position behind the scenes. He has said he plans to "control" the new government but he prefers "not to reveal the mechanism" he will use.

The victory of Ivanishvili's candidate will bring to an end an uneasy period of cohabitation between the oligarch and Saakashvili. European politicians have warned the Georgian authorities against carrying out a witch-hunt of Saakashvili-era politicians.

On Monday, a Tbilisi court found the former defence minister and prisons head Bacho Akhalaia guilty of inhumane treatment during a prison riot, and sentenced him to three years and nine months in jail. The former prime minister Vano Merabishvili is being held in custody awaiting trial.

Ivanishvili refuses to rule out charges being brought against Saakashvili himself. "Of course they could," he said in an interview with the Guardian this month. "People are always asking this question in Europe, but look: Berlusconi stood trial recently; Sarkozy was summoned. Here, the government abused human rights for nine years. Why should anyone be excluded from investigations?"

A key issue for the new government will be relations with Georgia's northern neighbour. Since Ivanishvili won parliamentary elections, trade links with Russia have improved, with Moscow's embargo on imports of Georgian wine and mineral water lifted this year. But other concerns remain.

"We will wait to see what the Georgians say, what kind of policy they will pursue towards Russia," said Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister when asked on Monday whether he would reach out to the new Georgian government. "We hope that the new Georgian government will be in favour of good neighbourly relations, while taking into account the contemporary realities in the region."

Lavrov's words reaffirm Russia's decision to recognise two Georgian provinces as independent states in the aftermath of the 2008 war. Russian border guards have recently been erecting a fence at the border between one of the provinces, South Ossetia, and the rest of Georgia.

More than 25,000 Georgians have signed a petition calling on Georgia to boycott the Winter Olympics in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi in protest at the fence-building and other provocative moves.

Margvelashvili will be inaugurated on 17 November.