GEORGIA:Thousands of Georgians protested yesterday after President Mikhail Saakashvili was awarded victory in an election which western observers said was broadly fair, but which Russia denounced as a sham.
Mr Saakashvili won with 52.8 per cent of the vote, election officials said yesterday. The result gave him just over half of the vote needed to win outright in the first round and avoid a runoff.
His main opponent, Levan Gachechiladze, received 27 per cent in yesterday's election, said Levan Tarkhnishvili, head of the Central Election Commission.
At least 5,000 opposition supporters rallied in the capital, Tibialis, where far bigger demonstrations in November were dispersed by police using rubber bullets and tear gas, but ultimately forced Mr Saakashvili to call Saturday's snap election.
Hailed as a young champion of democracy in the volatile Caucasus region after leading the so-called Rose Revolution of 2003, Mr Saakashvili has tried to overhaul the economy, attract foreign investment and put Georgia on the road to eventual membership of the European Union and Nato, angering Moscow in the process.
But at home he has been increasingly vilified for cracking down on opposition groups, concentrating power in the hands of a clique of supporters, and failing to alleviate the poverty and corruption that blight the lives of ordinary Georgians.
After initial exit polls suggested he had won more than the 50 per cent of votes needed to avoid a second round run-off against the leading opposition candidate, Mr Saakashvili said it was time for reconciliation between Georgia's various political camps.
"I'm extending my hand to those who voted for me and to those who took part in the elections," he declared.
"We are committed to having Georgia as a beacon of democracy in our part of the world."
But as counting continued and Mr Saakashvili's share dipped below the 50 per cent mark, main opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze told cheering crowds that he would not accept defeat.
"Saakashvili lost, and it cannot happen that Georgia will not defend its freedom, that we won't win," he said, accusing the president's backers of multiple voting and stealing ballot boxes.
Mr Gachechiladze said he would contest the election results in court, and would bring supporters on to the streets if their legal battle was stymied.
He also called for another public rally tomorrow, after today's celebration of Orthodox Christmas.
A second round of voting on January 19th could see Mr Saakashvili come under severe pressure from a single opposition leader backed by voters who spread their support between six anti-Saakashvili candidates in the first round.
The US and EU have given strong support to Mr Saakashvili and his pledge to make Georgia an island of stability and democracy in a region that is traditionally dominated by the Kremlin and lies on a key route for export of Caspian Sea oil and gas to the west.
Reflecting the struggle for influence in Georgia and the wider Caucasus area, there was a sharp clash of views yesterday between Russia and election monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
"I perceive this election as a viable expression of the free choice of the Georgian people, but the future holds immense challenges," said Alcee L Hastings, a US congressman who led the OSCE observer mission.
Earlier, Mr Hastings hailed the election as a "triumphant step" for democracy in Georgia, though the OSCE did also raise concerns about multiple voting and unfair media coverage.
Moscow, which increasingly sees the OSCE as a tool of US and EU foreign policy, mocked Mr Hastings's declaration, calling it "superficial, to say the least."
