Thousands rally outside Georgia’s parliament in protest at the election

Anti-government demonstrators rallied in the capital of Georgia on Saturday demanding new elections after the meeting said the polls two weeks ago were destroyed by fraud.

The ruling Georgian Dream party, led by the country’s wealthiest man and former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, almost won the October 31 poll that matches people alleged was rigged.

Opposition parties have declined to enter the new house in a boycott that has undermined the ruling party’s legitimacy.

Thousands of demonstrators rallied outside parliament on Saturday and promised to keep up the protest action until new opportunities are called.

Georgian Dream has declared the vote was free and fair.

“We will continue demonstrations until our need is met,” Nika Melia, a UNM leader, told the crowd that October ballot was “stolen.”

Forty-year-old baker Nukri Archvadze told AFP at the protest: “Ivanishvili and his Georgian Dream have staged a revolution by rigging the votes. They must call a fresh vote and leave power.”

Last Sunday, 45,000 demonstrators rallied outside government before marching towards the central election committee headquarters, threatening to block entrances.

Riot police dispersed the insurgents in the early hours of Monday, firing water cannon and leaving several people injured.

The discretionary performance has yet to confirm provisional results that showed Georgian Dream won 48 per cent of the votes against 46 per cent for opposition parties, in a comparable ballot that decides 120 of the legislature’s 150 seats.

Owing to Georgia’s complex electoral system, the parliament’s final makeup may only become clear in late November.

In power since 2012, Georgian Dream has seen its following fall due to discontent over its failure to address economic stagnation and perceived backsliding on confinements to democracy.

Critics accuse the country’s richest man Ivanishvili, who is widely seen to be calling the shots in Georgia, of worrying partisan opponents and creating a corrupt system where private interests fill politics.