Voters in Georgia are choosing a new parliament in a heated election that will decide the future of president Mikhail Saakashvili’s government.

Vladimir Putin scored a decisive victory in Russia’s presidential election to return to the Kremlin and extend his hold on power for six more years.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rolled to victory in Russia’s presidential election today, according to exit polls cited by state television, but the vote was tainted by claims of violations, including “carousel voting” in which voters were bused around to cast several ballots.

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou won a close re-election fight today, leveraging his message of greater prosperity through expanded ties with China to beat his populist-minded opponent.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has urged the government to listen to protesters demanding free elections.

Tens of thousands demonstrators rallied in the Russian capital today in another massive protest against election fraud, signalling a growing outrage with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s 12-year rule.

PRESIDENT Dmitry Medvedev ordered an investigation yesterday into allegations of fraud in Russia’s parliamentary election, one day after tens of thousands of protesters demanded it be annulled and rerun.

VLADIMIR PUTIN’S ruling party clung to a much reduced majority in parliament after an election that showed growing weariness with the man who has dominated Russia for more than a decade and plans to return to the presidency next year.

Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou has formally registered his re-election bid as his once-sweeping popular support is slipping as January 14 election draws near.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has been officially declared re-elected for a fourth term after a vote that other contenders say was rigged.

In the biggest challenge to authoritarian Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko in 16 years in power, thousands of demonstrators massed outside the main government office to protest over alleged vote fraud in Sunday’s presidential election, but club-swinging riot police drove them off and beat many.

Russians went to the polls in regional elections today which will gauge the ruling United Russia party's ability to garner support at a time of economic hardship and high unemployment.

Ukraine’s embattled prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko today appeared in public for the first time in days, but still resisted calls to concede defeat in the presidential election and resign her post.

UKRAINE’S Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko plans to legally challenge the results of the presidential runoff that opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych appears to have won, her campaign said yesterday.

OPPOSITION leader Viktor Yanukovych emerged as the apparent winner in Ukraine’s presidential contest yesterday, holding onto a lead of almost 3% with about 99% of ballots counted.

Pro-Russian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych declared victory in Ukraine’s presidential run-off today, but his opponent rejected the claim, saying the vote was too close to call.

MOLDOVA’S Constitutional Court agreed yesterday to a request from President Vladimir Voronin to stage a recount of last week’s election in which a victory by his Communist Party sparked violent protests.

A conservative opposition party won the most votes in Lithuania’s election, but strong support for populist groups set the stage for tricky coalition talks, according to an exit poll and partial results.

No opposition candidate won a seat in the Belarus parliament with nearly all the districts counted, the head of the elections commission said early today.

Taiwan’s opposition candidate cruised to victory in the presidential election today, promising to expand economic ties with China while protecting the island from being swallowed up politically by its giant communist neighbour.

DMITRY MEDVEDEV has won Russia’s presidential election with more than 70% of the vote, according to final results released yesterday.

Vladimir Putin’s handpicked successor Dmitry Medvedev was headed for an easy victory in today’s presidential election, according to an exit poll and early partial results.

Russian voters were expected to endorse Vladimir Putin’s choice of a successor in today’s presidential election, allowing Mr Putin to retain a measure of power in his nation whose wealth and global voice have grown even as democratic freedoms diminished.

A leading independent election watchdog has said it will boycott next month’s Russian presidential ballot because of state interference.

The most vocal Kremlin critic in Russia’s presidential contest was barred from the ballot today by election authorities who said tens of thousands of signatures on his nominating petitions were faked.

Mikhail Saakashvili was re-elected as Georgia’s president with 52.8% of the vote, election officials said tonight.

Uzbekistan’s authoritarian President Islam Karimov, who has ruled the Central Asian nation for nearly two decades, won another seven-year term with 88.1% of the votes, according to early returns released by Central Election Commission today – an election critics dismissed as a sham.

Russian president Vladimir Putin’s party was on course for a landslide victory tonight as early results showed they had clinched more than 60% of the vote.

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov's opposition alliance has been barred from participating in December's parliamentary elections, a spokeswoman for the group said today.

Ukraine's Orange Revolution allies made a strong showing in parliamentary elections and looked poised to win a majority that could steer the country more firmly on to a pro-Western course, an exit poll showed.

A Taiwanese politician threw a shoe at the Legislature’s speaker today as the final day of the legislative session dissolved amid massive pushing and shoving.

Gunmen attacked the convoy of the Palestinian foreign minister and raided a training base for an elite unit of the security forces today, stepping up factional violence over a decision by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to end nine months of Hamas rule and call early elections.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has called for an early election to end his violent clash with Hamas, in a gamble that banks on the support of Palestinians as he seeks to weaken the Islamic militants, avoid civil war and continue peace overtures with Israel.

A revised election count docked one parliamentary seat from Israel’s Labour Party, from 20 to 19, stripping acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of a centre-left Jewish majority for his planned West Bank pullout.

Ukraine president Viktor Yushchenko’s party today increased the pressure on its leader to reunite the estranged Orange Team, passing a resolution that put potential deal-breaking restrictions on the pro-Moscow opposition leader.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko today criticised the slow pace of the vote count in the country’s parliamentary election, with no result after some 43 hours of counting, and warned of potential fraud.

Final results from last weekend’s presidential election in Belarus confirm a landslide victory for incumbent Alexander Lukashenko, a top electoral official in the former Soviet republic said today.

SEVERAL thousand opposition supporters gathered on a main square in central Minsk last night as polls closed in a disputed presidential election.

Thousands of angry demonstrators crammed a square in Azerbaijan’s capital today to protest over alleged fraud in last weekend’s parliamentary elections, demonstrating the opposition’s peaceful intentions.

Azerbaijan’s opposition, emboldened by international criticism of the parliamentary vote and the government decision to annul the count in two districts, prepared for a massive protest rally tomorrow that it hopes will give it irreversible momentum.

AZERBAIJAN’S opposition yesterday rejected the results of weekend parliamentary elections, calling them rigged and vowing to overturn the outcome of voting that foreign observers said fell short of international standards.

The ruling party took the lead in Azerbaijan’s parliamentary election according to the official vote count and exit polls, but rights groups and monitors reported irregularities and the opposition vowed to fight to overturn what it called fraudulent results.

Opposition leader Sali Berisha’s coalition was officially declared winner of Albania’s July 3 parliamentary elections today, following weeks of delays in confirming final results.

Albanians today cast ballots in a key test of its post-Communist institutions, but local observers raised some concerns over voting procedures in rural areas.