Tens of thousands rally in Georgia after contested vote

Tbilisi: Tens of thousands of Georgians took to the streets on Monday to protest against the ruling party s victory in parliamentary polls denounced a...

Tbilisi: Tens of thousands of Georgians took to the streets on Monday to protest against the ruling party's victory in parliamentary polls denounced as "stolen" by the pro-Western opposition, while Georgia's president alleged to AFP that the vote was rigged using "sophisticated" methods she linked to Russia.

The Caucasus country -- rocked by mass anti-government protests earlier this year -- has plunged into political uncertainty since Saturday's vote, with Brussels, Washington, France and Germany condemning "irregularities".

According to near-complete results announced by the electoral commission, the ruling Georgian Dream party won 53.92 percent of the vote, compared with the 37.78 percent garnered by a union of four pro-Western opposition alliances.

Georgian Dream has for months been accused by the opposition of steering Tbilisi away from its goal of joining the EU and back into Russia's orbit.

Waving Georgian and EU flags, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the main parliament building in central Tbilisi, AFP journalists saw.