Mikheil Saakashvili, president of Georgia and leader of the United National Movement (UNM) ruling party, has officially conceded defeat in his country's October 1 parliamentary elections to the Georgian Dream coalition led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. The UNM party will now go into opposition, according to Mr Saakashvili.

With 29 percent of the vote counted, Georgian Dream had won 53.1 percent of the vote while the UNM had 41.6 percent of the vote. However, it is still unclear what the final parliamentary make-up will look like.

Under Georgia's electoral system, 77 of the 150 seats in parliament are allocated according to party lists and the other 73 by constituent victories. And although Georgian Dream seems to have won a resounding victory with regard to the first group of seats, the UNM is doing better in the constituent vote tally.

The Georgian Dream coalition is now expected to form the next government and its leader Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is the country's richest man, has said he should be prime minister.

Mikhail Saakashvili has dominated Georgian politics since he led the Rose Revolution in 2003, which toppled then-president Eduard Shevardnadze. He was elected president in 2004 and won re-election in 2008.

He was severely criticized by his opponents in 2010 when he amended the constitution to transform Georgia into a parliamentary republic, vastly reducing the powers the president's office, which he will vacate in 2013.

In August, Tedo Japaridze, foreign minister of Georgia after the Rose Revolution and now member of GD, told WBJ that the Georgian president “treats democratic institutions as tools to promote his own personal interests.”