November 5, 2003	Wednesday	Ramazan 9, 1424

TBILISI, Nov 4: Thousands of opposition supporters marched through the Georgian capital on Tuesday to protest initial results of a parliamentary poll and demand veteran President Eduard Shevardnadze step down.

The crowd of up to 10,000 people, many shouting “Down with Shevardnadze!” and waving national flags, accused the government of rigging the election after initial results put a bloc backing the president in the lead.

Mr Shevardnadze, 76, who has led the volatile former Soviet state since its independence in 1992 and dominated politics in the region for decades, said he would not be intimidated.

The election’s outcome is seen as an indicator of who may succeed him as president of Georgia, now of key interest to the West with an oil pipeline being built across it to take Caspian oil to the Mediterranean Sea.

He cannot run for a new term in a 2005 presidential poll.

“Shevardnadze should admit the victory of the democratic opposition,” former justice minister Mikhail Saakashvili told the crowd gathered peacefully in Freedom Square.

“If he does not before tomorrow, we will go to the state chancellery and force him to step down,” said Mr Saakashvili, whose opposition bloc is in second place.

Riot police blocked off streets leading to the president’s office, but the crowd started to disperse after about two hours, pledging more protests on Wednesday.

“If people demand my resignation I will step down, but I won’t allow anybody to intimidate me,” Mr Shevardnadze said on Georgian state television. “I appeal to our people not to let themselves be provoked.”

Election officials have said preliminary results showed Shevardnadze’s For a New Georgia! bloc had taken 26.6 percent of about 50 percent of votes counted so far.

Opposition parties won more votes in total and may cause the government more trouble in the new parliament, but analysts say they are still too splintered to unite and form a majority.

FIGHT TO THE END: The United States and democracy watchdog the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the vote was tainted by irregularities, mainly linked to inaccurate voter lists, but also reported some progress towards full and fair democracy.

But the protesters accused the government of manipulating voter lists, ballot-stuffing and intimidating voters and said they rejected any result which made Shevardnadze’s bloc the most powerful in the 235-seat assembly.

“We are ready to fight to the very end. It’s our last chance,” former parliament speaker Zurab Zhvania told the crowd.

Riot police and hundreds of ordinary officers guarded government buildings but there were no signs of violence.

Shevardnadze is still remembered in the West for his leading role as a Soviet foreign minister in ending the Cold War.—Reuters