Mikhail Saakashvili, who led the "rose revolution" that forced Eduard Shevardnadze from office six weeks ago, won Sunday's Georgian presidential vote by a landslide, according to an independent exit poll.
Saakashvili now faces a vast array of problems in the combustible ex-Soviet state, having caught the public's heart with pledges to end corruption, combat poverty and restore central control over Georgia's restive regions.
The exit poll, organised by a group which included the Soros Foundation, the British Council and other international groups, said Sakaashvili had won with 85.8 percent of the vote.
"This is your victory. I have not won the election. You my people, you have won the election," he told reporters after the exit poll was announced. "There are many problems to be resolved but we will rebuild our country together and we will embark on a democratic path."
The result crowns the 36-year-old lawyer's high-risk campaign which began when he led tens of thousands onto the streets in protest against a flawed parliamentary election late last year, forcing an increasingly unpopular Shevardnadze to resign.
"The turnout is unusually high. I am quite amazed how many people showed up," Saakashvili told reporters when he voted in central Tbilisi. "People are longing for a better future."
There was little competition from five other candidates - three lawyers, a former regional governor and the head of an organisation for the disabled.
The run-up to the poll had been marred by violence and a battle with discontented regions over whether they would vote but polling day itself was peaceful.
Shevardnadze, smiling for the cameras, said: "You guessed my choice" when asked whether he had voted for Saakashvili, who is affectionately called Misha by many in Georgia.
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