Saakashvili leads vote as opposition cry foul

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili declared victory on Thursday as early results showed his ruling party was on course to win a majority in a parliamentary election that the opposition said was rigged.

The main opposition coalition, which claimed victory in the election ten minutes before polls closed on Wednesday, said the U.S.-educated lawyer had stolen victory and called for protests.

The West says the election is a test of Saakashvili's commitment to democracy as he steers his ex-Soviet Caucasus country towards the NATO military alliance, a policy that has riled giant neighbour Russia.

"Even I was astonished by the big level of support which we got in these parliamentary elections," Saakashvili said in an address to the nation.

With just over 20 percent of ballots counted, the main opposition coalition bloc was in second place with 13.7 percent. The Christian Democratic Movement was third with 8.1 percent and the Labour party fourth with 6.1 percent.

Saakashvili said his United National Movement party could get close to a constitutional majority, which is two thirds of the 150 seats. He said the views of all political parties in the new parliament would be taken into account.

"Yesterday was the triumph of the will of the Georgian people," Saakashvili said. "No-one can raise their hand against the will of the Georgian people."

Opposition coalition leader Levan Gachechiladze said he would call 100,000 people onto the streets to claim victory. But only about 4,000 gathered in central Tbilisi and leaders said they would meet on Thursday to decide their strategy.

"The struggle against Saakashvili's regime will continue every day until this regime departs forever," Gachechiladze, who once worked as one of Saakashvili's political advisors, told supporters in Tbilisi.

Saakashvili, who relies on Western support in his row with Russia over Moscow's support for Georgia's two separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, said he wanted a "beautiful" vote.

On a trip to a western region near Abkhazia, Saakashvili called on Europe to stand up to Russia, which last month deepened ties with separatists in the two regions.

DEMOCRACY TEST

Georgia's booming $10 billion (5 billion pounds) economy lies at the heart of the Caucasus, where the United States and Russia are jostling for influence over a key transit route for oil and gas supplies from the Caspian Sea to Europe.

Saakashvili swept to power in the peaceful 2003 "Rose" revolution, promising market reforms and a shift to re-orienting his country towards Europe and the United States.

But the democratic credentials of the 40-year-old leader were badly tarnished when he sent riot troops to crush protests last November. He won a snap January presidential election which critics said was rigged.

"The election day was the culmination of falsification, the culmination of terror," said David Gamkrelidze, one of the leaders of the opposition coalition. "But despite that the people supported the opposition and we won."

The Central Election Commission said the vote was free and fair. Europe's leading election monitor said before the election it had found cases of intimidation by state employees campaigning for Saakashvili's party and that television news was skewed in favour of the ruling party.

Many Georgians are unhappy with soaring prices for fuel and food while the opposition says Saakashvili has failed to tackle unemployment and high-level corruption remains rampant.

The opposition, which broadly supports closer ties with the West and NATO, says Saakashvili's rhetoric about democracy masks intolerance of dissent.