TBILISI. Nov 2 (Interfax) - Several thousand supporters of Georgian opposition gathered on Rustaveli Avenue on Sunday in response to the calls of the opposition leaders to express mass protest against "the falsified elections," an Interfax correspondent reported.
The opposition leaders said at the rally that they do not recognize the results of the October 31 parliamentary elections and decline to work in a new parliament.
"We will meet with the heads of diplomatic missions
and hand them all the documented materials describing how the ruling party falsified the elections and bribed voters. We will continue to pressurize the authorities by street protests until new early, free elections are scheduled," one of the leaders of the United National Movement opposition party Salome Zourabichvili said at a rally.
"We will do our utmost for this parliament to work. The authorities insulted us, depriving us of our voting right and stealing the elections. We do not need such parliament," one of the leaders of the Georgian Labor Party Lasha Chkhartishvili said.
According to the results of the Saturday parliamentary elections, the Georgian Dream ruling party can get about 90 seats in the new parliament.
The opposition describes such proportion of seats as blatant "stealing." Its members presented the public and the Central Elections Commission with irrefutable facts of rewriting the final documents regarding the voting at polling stations, bribing voters directly near polling stations, and mobilizing criminals for putting pressure on voters. Opposition members believe that they would gain a majority of parliamentary seats in case of fair elections.
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili urged the opposition to stage mass protests against the state authorities, Georgian opposition TV channels reported in the early hours on Sunday.
Meanwhile, observers said at a press briefing on Sunday that the Georgian parliamentary elections were competitive and all of the fundamental rights were protected at the elections.
The opposition leaders called on their supporters to meet next Sunday and continue their protest.