Georgian president-elect targets Shevardnadze in anti-corruption drive

The US-educated lawyer who won a landslide victory in Georgia's presidential elections on Sunday has vowed to tackle corruption as his first act when he takes office later this month. And the man he ousted, Eduard Shevardnadze, and his family are among his targets.

The President-elect, Mikhail Saakashvili, 36, said his first move would be to push for "drastic anti-corruption legislation". Corruption, including the siphoning off of foreign aid and state assets falling into private hands, has weakened the country to the brink of collapse, and "the richest of them all was the Shevardnadze family", Mr Saakashvili told the Associated Press. "I never promised Shevardnadze we would not take assets he misappropriated. I promised him his physical security," he said in an interview at the Krtsanisi presidential residence in the steep hills on the edge of the capital, Tbilisi.

"It would be really incredible to do the same bad things, or worse," he said of the 10 years of decline Georgia witnessed under Mr Shevardnadze. In the dozen years since its independence from the disintegrating Soviet Union, Georgia, once renowned for its stunning scenery and abundant banquets, has become associated with poverty, kidnappings and corruption.

Many of Georgia's 5.5 million people live in severe poverty, and even the more fortunate struggle with frequent electricity and water cuts, shaky communications and a healthcare system that Mr Saakashvili admits is "one of the most barbaric in the world".

"We cannot restore the old social welfare system" of Soviet times, he said, adding that transforming the economy was the only way to lift Georgians out of misery.

Endemic corruption - Georgia is perceived as one of the world's most corrupt countries, according to Transparency International, the international anti-corruption watchdog - has stifled local entrepreneurship and discouraged foreign investors.

Mr Saakashvili acknowledged that those who have benefited from corruption might try to fight back, perhaps violently. Georgia has a history of political violence, including two assassination attempts against Mr Shevardnadze. "We've assumed these risks by running for this office," Mr Saakashvili said

In a preliminary count of ballots from 57 of the country's 75 electoral districts, Mr Saakashvili took 97.6 per cent of the vote against five minor candidates, the Georgian Central Election Commission chairman, Zurab Chiaberashvili, said on Monday. Election officials said the proportion was unlikely to change substantially when final results are released today.

International observers said the voting, although marred by sporadic violations, was largely free and fair, in marked contrast to the fraudulent November parliamentary elections that led to the uprising against Shevardnadze. The US State Department said that Georgia's presidential election marked a significant step forward in the development of democracy in the former Soviet republic.

One of Georgia's most promising economic prospects is the construction of an oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, crossing through its territory. The project is heavily backed by the United States, and that has prompted speculation that Mr Saakashvili's moves to oust Mr Shevardnadze were the result of manipulation by Washington. Mr Saakashvili denies this. "They never helped us as a political force. They kept a safe distance from the opposition," he said of the United States.

However, Mr Saakashvili does profess firm Western leanings, which could irritate Georgia's neighbour, Russia. Relations are already tense over the presence of Russian troops in Georgia and Moscow's cultivation of the leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two Georgian regions which have had de facto independence since separatist wars in the 1990s.