Pro-government, opposition supporters rally in Georgian capital

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, November 22, 2003

Pro-government, opposition supporters rally in Georgian capital

Georgian police have tightened security as pro-government supporters and supporters of opposition are rallying in the capital city of Tbilisi.

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Georgian police have tightened security as pro-government supporters and supporters of opposition are rallying in the capital city of Tbilisi.
Mikhail Saakashvili, the leader of the opposition party National Movement, who returned Tbilisi Friday night with his supporters from other regions of the country, pledged that the opposition supporters tomorrow would get the incumbent President Eduard Shevardnadze out of the State Chancellery.

Saakashvili visited the country's western regions late Thursday to mobilize supporters to march on Tbilisi to continue their protests.

Meanwhile, several thousand supporters of Aslan Abashidze, the governor of Georgia's Adzharian republic and leader of the moderate opposition party the Union of Democratic Revival, have been rallying in support of the incumbent authorities near parliamentary headquarters over the past few days.

Abashidze is an ally of President Shevardnadze.

The three-week-long political turmoil in the ex-Soviet Caucasus republic was triggered by the Nov. 2 parliamentary elections, which is accused by opposition parties of ballot-rigging in favor of the pro-government bloc led by President Shevardnadze.

The opposition forces have staged nationwide protests, demanding the president's resignation and nullification of the "fraudulent" elections.

Despite the pressure from the opposition, the Georgian Central Electoral Commission validated the controversial elections Thursday.

According to the results, published by the commission, For A New Georgia, Georgia's main pro-president party, has won a victory in the vote with 21.32 percent of the votes. Its ally, the Union of Democratic Revival, was in second place with 18.84 percent.

The leading opposition party, National Movement, was in the third place with 18.70 percent.

President Shevardnadze signed a decree setting the parliament's first session on Saturday shortly after the official returns were announced.

The opposition parties, however, refused to take part in the work of the "parliament appointed by Shevardnadze."

They have vowed to continue rally until President Shevardnadze steps down and the new parliamentary elections are held.

The Georgian authorities have expressed concern over possible clashes between the rivals on the Tbilisi streets, though there have been no reports about such clashes so far.

The developments in Georgia have attracted the attention from other countries, which have vital interests in it.

The United States said on Thursday there was massive vote fraud in the parliamentary elections and the results announced by the authorities did not reflect the will of the people.

In unusually strong remarks about an election in a foreign country, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Washington was deeply disappointed with the leadership of the Caucasus nation and was assessing its next steps.

Commenting on the US statement, the Georgia president's press secretary Kakha Imnadze said Friday that Georgia has partially accepted US criticism of electoral violations.

"The violations that occurred during the elections bother us very much. However, as some analysts, including Americans, say, the Friends of Georgia should assume part of the responsibility," Imnadze said.

"A lot will become clear" once the probe into the electoral violations is completed, he said.

Russia, a key power in the volatile Caucasus region and still maintains troops in Georgia since the Soviet ear, on Friday called on the Georgian authorities and other political forces to demonstrate "essential composure."

"This is in the interests of not only Georgia and Georgian people, but also the neighboring states and the region as a whole," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, issued on its website.

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