Georgia Sets Date for Presidential Election, Debates Whether to Call Vote for New Parliament

Georgian lawmakers on Tuesday set a new presidential election for Jan. 4 and debated when to call a vote for a new parliament, steps seen as key to keeping stability after the ouster of President Eduard Shevardnadze. Georgia's highest court invalidated the fraud-tainted Nov. 2 parliamentary elections that sparked huge protests, driving Shevardnadze out of power. The ruling leaves the old parliament in place for now. "We should stand side by side independent of nationality, independent of political interests," parliamentary speaker and interim President Nino Budrzhanadze told the legislators. "Today we are starting a new era." A vase of red roses stood on the speaker's lectern, a reminder of the flowers protesters carried in what many have called Georgia's "rose revolution" or "velvet revolution" in reference to the movement that toppled communism in Czechoslavakia in 1989. The lawmakers set the date for a presidential vote, but put off the decision on when to hold a new parliament vote until Wednesday. Mikhail Saakashvili, a top Shevardnadze opponent who is likely to be the front-runner in any presidential vote, urged the legislators to set the election date.