TBILISI: Thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets of Georgia's capital Tbilisi on Sunday to demand snap polls after the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in a parliamentary vote.
The ex-Soviet nation's opposition rejected the results of Saturday's vote, which showed Georgian Dream with a narrow lead in the tightly contested election.
The demand for fresh elections could spark another political crisis in the Caucasus republic of four million, where elections are often followed by accusations of fraud and mass demonstrations.
Waving Georgian flags, demonstrators gathered outside the imposing parliament building on Tbilisi's main thoroughfare after exiled ex-president and opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili called for protests.
The crowd, many wearing masks against the coronavirus, burst into applause as opposition leaders said the vote had been rigged and demanded a new election.
"All of Georgia's opposition parties are united in the decision not to enter the new parliament," Nika Melia, one of the leaders of Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM), told the rally.
"We will be fighting until the goal (of a new election) is achieved," he said, announcing another protest for next Sunday.
"We will not let Georgian Dream steal our votes," one of the demonstrators, 54-year-old accountant Tornike Meladze, told AFP. "Protests will go on until new elections are called."
With votes from nearly all precincts counted, Georgian Dream had won 48 percent of the proportional vote, against 45.6 percent for opposition parties.
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