* Opposition delays huge protest in Tbilisi * Exit poll gives Saakashvili's party victory * Opposition claims victory, says vote was rigged (Adds opposition activists watching soccer game) By Margarita Antidze and Guy Faulconbridge TBILISI, May 21 (Reuters) - An independent exit poll showed Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's party was set to win Wednesday's parliamentary election, but the opposition claimed victory and vowed to hold a major protest in the capital. Saakashvili's United National Movement party won about 63 percent of the votes and the main opposition force about 14 to 16 percent, according to the exit poll. The West sees the election as a test of Saakashvili's commitment to democracy as he steers his ex-Soviet Caucasus country towards the NATO military alliance, a policy that has riled giant neighbour Russia. The democratic credentials of the 40-year-old U.S.-educated lawyer were badly tarnished when he sent riot troops to crush protests last November. Ten minutes before voting closed, the opposition claimed victory. They vowed to rally 100,000 people in Tbilisi against what they said was a rigged election. But they delayed the rally for a few hours and about 500 Saakashvili critics stood watching the Champions League Cup Final between Manchester United and Chelsea on a giant screen. "I would like to congratulate Georgian society on the fact that the opposition has won in all of Georgia," David Gamkrelidze, one of the leaders of the opposition coalition, told reporters. "The authorities have totally lost," he said. First official results are not expected until early on Thursday. If the exit poll, carried out by a group of Georgian and foreign NGOs, proves accurate, Saakashvili's party would win more than half the 150 seats in parliament. "I don't think the final result will be strongly different to the current picture" from the exit poll, said David Bakradze, who tops the electoral list of the ruling party. Saakashvili, a fluent English speaker who has Western support in his row with Russia over its support for Georgia's two separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, says he wanted a "beautiful" vote. "In Georgia our democracy is alive and well," Saakashvili proclaimed after casting his ballot with his Dutch wife. With a population of 4.5 million and a booming $10 billion economy, Georgia lies at the heart of the Caucasus where the United States and Russia vie for influence over a key transit route for oil and gas from the Caspian to Europe. The exit poll put the Christian Democratic Movement third with about 8 to 9 percent and the Labour party fourth with about 5 to 6 percent. Polls closed at 8 p.m. (1600 GMT). DEMOCRACY "RHETORIC" Saakashvili swept to power in the peaceful 2003 "Rose" revolution, promising market reforms, a commitment to democracy and re-orienting his country towards the European mainstream. The opposition, which broadly supports closer ties with the West and NATO, says Saakashvili's rhetoric about democracy masks intolerance of dissent and says the revolution that put him in power was a U.S.-managed farce. NATO, which has offered Tbilisi a path to membership, has said it will be watching to ensure the election is fairly held. Europe's leading election monitor said in a report before Wednesday's vote it found cases of intimidation by state employees campaigning for Saakashvili's party and that television news was skewed in favour of the ruling party. Saakashvili has made much of what he says is the threat from Russia, which last month deepened ties with the separatist regions and sent more troops to Abkhazia. He said on Wednesday Russia was acting aggressively over the two rebel regions. Officials in Tbilisi said at least two Georgians were wounded by shooting as they tried to cross the de-facto border from Abkhazia to vote in the election. Abkhaz separatists said they had come under fire from Georgia and that no one was hurt. (Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Jon Boyle)
Medical personnel from Russia look at a patient's x-ray at a temporary hospital in earthquake-affected Penzhou, Sichuan province May 21, 2008. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA). CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES ...
