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Georgian election officials from opposition boycott CEC meeting

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Members of Georgia's Central Election Commission (CEC) representing the opposition walked out of a scheduled meeting on Monday in protest against alleged rigging of the parliamentary election's results.
TBILISI, May 26 (RIA Novosti) - Members of Georgia's Central Election Commission (CEC) representing the opposition walked out of a scheduled meeting on Monday in protest against alleged rigging of the parliamentary election's results.

President Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement won about 120 of 150 seats in parliament in the May 21 parliamentary election. The united opposition bloc received just 16 seats and threatened to boycott the future parliament. Georgia's opposition has demanded the Georgian president acknowledge that the elections were rigged and has called for the results to be annulled.

"We are not going to participate in falsification of the elections," said Alexander Bregadze, a member of the united opposition bloc.

However, CEC spokesman Zurab Kachkachishvili said the opposition's demands were ungrounded, and that the official results of the election would be made public on June 8.

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters gathered in Tbilisi on Monday to protest against the results of the parliamentary polls, as Georgia held a military parade to mark Independence Day.

Saakashvili has so far rejected the opposition's demands, saying: "We will not tolerate the language of ultimatums. The people of Georgia has already made its choice and elected parliament, and it will start work in compliance with existing procedures."

The united opposition said it had scheduled another protest march along the city's main Rustaveli Avenue on June 10 and also announced plans to form an "alternative parliament."

Tbilisi saw six days of mass opposition rallies last November, with protesters demanding Saakashvili's resignation over allegations of corruption and increasing authoritarianism.

International observers said the Georgian election had flaws but that the results reflected the overall will of the people.

Joao Soares, co-ordinator of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's short-term observer team in Georgia, said: "These elections were not perfect but since I was here in January for the presidential elections, concrete and substantial progress has been made. Problems and much work remain."

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