Georgia ? Georgia’s embattled leader appeared to have narrowly won re-election to the presidency in a tightly contested snap vote, elections officials announced late Sunday.

If the preliminary results are borne out, Mikheil Saakashvili will clear an important hurdle in his quest to restore his tarnished reputation. The once wildly popular hero of pro-Western revolution and free market reform was fighting this weekend to win 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.

Late Sunday, election officials said a preliminary count showed he had won 52.8 percent of the vote.