At a joint press conference in Tbilisi on 26 November, the three opposition leaders who spearheaded the campaign for President Shevardnadze\'s resignation in the wake of the rigged 2 November parliamentary elections announced the nomination of a single candidate, National Movement Chairman Mikhail Saakashvili, for the preterm presidential election scheduled for 4 January. Acting President Nino Burdjanadze said the decision to align behind a single candidate was dictated by the need to \"preserve and protect the achievement we have won together with the Georgian people.\" Saakashvili said that Burdjanadze, whom he termed \"the most attractive political face in Georgia,\" will head the opposition list of candidates in the parliamentary ballot, for which no date has yet been set. Former Economy Minister Lado Papava, who is now Burdjanadze\'s main economic adviser, told Reuters on 26 November that \"Saakashvili deserves to become president and Nino Burdjanadze has little chance of beating him.\" (Caucasus Press)