Expressing serious concern over the fairness of the presidential election in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Russia has said the poll involved many offences against laws on the part of the Georgian authorities.

Near-complete returns from the presidential poll showed pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili winning a victory, with 52.58 per cent of the vote, followed by united opposition candidate Levan Gachechiladze with 27 per cent, media reports said quoting the Georgian Central Election Commission.

“Reports of numerous offences of election legislation have been and are still coming in,” a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said.

“The presidential race was marked by a wide use of administrative resources, open pressure on opposition candidates and tight restrictions on their access to financial and media resources,” it said.

“In this situation, it is quite understandable that supporters of opposition candidates are indignant at the fact that the ex-President has in effect declared himself the winner without waiting for at least preliminary official results of voting to be announced,” it pointed out.