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WASHINGTON (News Agencies)-The main challenger to Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze's re-election bid conceded defeat on Sunday shortly after polling stations closed. "Judging from the exit polls, I've lost," said former Communist leader Dzhumber Patiashvili. Mr. Shevardnadze with 24% of the votes counted, thus far had secured more than 80% of the vote, compared with Patiashvili’s score of less than 15%. Shevardnadze has run the country for the past eight years and opposition leader Mr. Patiashvili has failed to exploit popular dissatisfaction over falling living standards and endemic corruption. Georgian’s Iprinda news agency reported allegations of apparent irregularities during the elections. It said that a man in a police uniform put a pack of ballot papers in a ballot box at a polling station in the village of Vardisuban in Telavi District.
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