Georgian security chief calls for new elections

The chief of Georgia's Security Council acknowledged yesterday that parliamentary elections in the former Soviet republic this month were tainted by widespread fraud.

Tedo Dzhaparidze, who heads Georgia's police and security forces, called for a new vote, signalling a rift in the government as opposition party demonstrators advanced on the country's capital, Tbilisi. He warned that the nation's political crisis could lead to riots worse than thoseafter the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Mr Dzhaparidze opposed calls to oust President Eduard Shevardnadze, but said in a statement that the new parliament must function only temporarily pending new elections. He said the elections on 2 November - which gave pro-Shevardnadze parties a working majority - were tarnished with "falsification during both the balloting and the vote count".

The culture minister, the head of state television and the deputy prosecutor general have resigned in protest at the government's handling of the crisis.

The election has drawn sharp criticism from the United States. A State Department spokesman said the results reflect "massive vote fraud" in some regions and "do not accurately reflect the will of the Georgian people".