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According to Giya Tortladze, one of the leaders of the United Opposition, should the total of the Central Electoral Commission on the outcomes of the parliamentary elections be the same as the results of the exit polls, "the authorities will surely have a nationwide uprising." Mr Tortladze made this statement late at night yesterday, on May 21.

Yesterday, on May 21, Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, and other cities of the Republic hosted a number of events dedicated to the 144th anniversary of the end of the Caucasian War.

The representatives of the OSCE, who observed the May 21 parliamentary elections in Georgia, have characterized the voting process as "generally positive."

Today morning in Dagestan, Budun Sharapudinov, director of secondary school No. 4 in the city of Khasavyurt, was shot dead from a sub-machine gun.

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Georgia has annulled the tabulated election results at 13 polling stations in different areas of the country because of admitted violations.

The group of international observers asserts that, as a whole, the voting that takes place all over Georgia goes without any rough violations.

Laurence Kogoniya, commander of the Galskiy ROVD (District Interior Unit), called the bus incident in Khurcha village, located in the Zugdidi District of Georgia, to be "a mere provocation." The bus was to bring residents of the Galskiy District of Abkhazia to the Zugdidi District of Georgia for taking part in the parliamentary elections.

Late at night on May 20, in Armenia, Rachya Sarkisyan and nine other supporters, four women among them, of the arrested Aram Karapetyan, leader of the "New Times" Party, stopped their hunger strike in response to the appeal of their leader.

Today in the morning, Gerontiy Katsiya, a propagandist of the United Opposition, was shot dead from a hunting rifle in the Tsalendzhikh District (Samegrelo, Western Georgia).

Today, in the Teryan Street of Yerevan, an unknown person made a shot from a gas pistol at Michael Danielyan, Chairman of the Helsinki Association of Armenia.

Zurab Kachkachishvili, speaker of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Georgia, has assured that the number of ballot papers in polling stations is equal to the number of voters. It was his comment to the information of NGOs that certain polling stations have registered a deficit of ballot papers, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The general court of communities Kentron and Nork-Marash in Armenia has ruled to extend by two months the arrest of Aram Karapetyan, leader of the opposition party "New Times". Cardiologists from Austria assert that the detainee's health is "in increased risk zone."

South Azerbaijan prepares to mark the second anniversary of dispersal of Azerbaijanis' rally in May 2006.

Agyl Khalil, a correspondent of the "Azadlyg" newspaper, has lodged a suit against the State Frontier Service, State Office of Public Prosecutor and Investigatory Department for Grave Crimes under the State Office of Public Prosecutor of Azerbaijan.

On May 19, Samvel Gevorkyan and Koryun Tadevosyan announced a termless hunger strike with a demand to release Usik Bagdasaryan, commander of the Masis battalion, and other political prisoners.

Today, the European Union has disseminated a statement related to the extraordinary report presented by the Ombudsman of Armenia and supporting the Ombudsman's initiative to have an independent investigation of the events that happened on March 1 this year in Yerevan.

On May 19, at about 12 p.m., about a dozen of persons in civilian clothes appeared in ward No. 14, Surgery Division, of the Central District Hospital of the city of Apsheronsk, Krasnodar Territory, and forced away patient Rashid Gurzhiev, a member of the Kurmanch community.

The members of the All-Russian NGO "Voice of Beslan" are dissatisfied with appointment of Vladimir Ustinov to the post of plenipotentiary representative of Russian President in the South Federal District (SFD) and sent a letter today to the new official.

Human rights activists are concerned with the situation around the "Vostok" (East) battalion of the 42nd Motorized Rifle Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, deployed in Chechnya, and state that irrespective of the political context, the grave crimes revealed during the recent weeks shall be investigated.

The central square of Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, is now the venue of a protest rally, in which about one hundred persons take part. The protesters demand to stop prosecuting the "Charitable Women's Hospital".