But more weight than usual will be given to the verdict of monitors from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a club of 15 countries, which has endorsed Zimbabwe's previous flawed elections out of solidarity for a fellow member.

ECONOMIST: Could Robert Mugabe be unseated?

To endow this idea with more political weight, some diplomats think that Georgia might be given the equivalent of the European road maps being followed by Balkan countries, though without (for now) a promise of membership at the end.

ECONOMIST: Russia and Georgia