Opposition Calls Off Protest Rally

The nine-party opposition coalition has canceled a protest rally planned for January 8.

The coalition, backing presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze, said it would use all legal means first, in particular the courts, to prove cases of, what it calls, ballot fraud and manipulation of election results.

With results from 3,070 out of 3,512 precincts already posted on the CEC website, the incumbent candidate has slightly over 52% of the vote and Gachechiladze – about 25%.

The opposition, however, claims that there have been numerous cases of manipulation of results. If disputed precinct results are invalidated – as the opposition is seeking – final results may change, with Saakashvili’s lead presumably narrowing even further.