Georgia Commission Validates Voting

[Socialist Christian]

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20031120_583.html

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Georgia's election commission on Thursday rejected claims that parliamentary voting was rigged, validating a ballot that put President Eduard Shevardnadze's supporters in first place.
The dispute over the Nov. 5 vote plunged Georgia into its deepest political crisis in years, sparking days of opposition protests in which thousands of people thronged the streets of Tbilisi demanding Shevardnadze's resignation.

Protest leader Mikhail Saakashvili whose party came in third in elections vowed to persist in trying to block a new parliament from convening.

"We won't join the new parliament and we will try to prevent it from holding its session," Saakashvili told reporters Thursday shortly before the official results were announced.

Though triggered by the alleged election fraud, last week's street protests reflected long-simmering anger over the country's severe unemployment and deep poverty.