Georgia: elections, opposition calls for protest against fraud

(ANSA) - TBILISI, 01 NOV - The Georgian opposition has launched an appeal for mass protest after the Georgian Dream party in power since 2012 claimed victory in yesterday's heavily contested legislative elections. Ex-president-in-exile and opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili accused the head of Georgian Dream, the powerful billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, of falsifying the Saturday vote and urged his supporters to take to the streets. With nearly 92 percent of the constituencies polled, Georgian Dream got 48 percent of the proportional votes, compared to 45.5 percent of opposition parties, the Central Electoral Commission said. The proportional vote decides 120 out of 150 seats. Ivanishvili said his party "won the election for the third time in a row" The vote could trigger another political crisis in the former Soviet republic after Saakashvili's United National Movement called for a protest in front of parliament this afternoon. Independent local electoral observers also said that there were multiple irregularities. (HANDLE).