"We are continuing our struggle and demand a second round of elections," recent presidential candidate, Levan Gachechiladze, announced during a live-broadcast on a Georgian national television station on Thursday evening.
"However, our fight is of an absolutely peaceful character and will be expressed in such forms as rallies, mass demonstrations or hunger strikes," he added.
Early presidential elections were announced in Georgia after demonstrators had taken to the streets from November 2-7 demanding the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili over corruption allegations. The protests were eventually put down by riot police, and Saakashvili subsequently announced early elections for January 5.
Saakashvili was elected as Georgian president following mass demonstrations during the country's 2003 "Rose" revolution, when former president Eduard Shevardnadze was swept from office following allegations of election fraud.
The Central Election Commission announced on Thursday that Mikheil Saakashvili had so far received 53.3% of the vote in the presidential election, Levan Gachechiladze, 25.6%, and billionaire businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, 7.1%. The final results will be published on January 13.
The chairman of the Central Election Commission, Levan Tarkhnishvili, said that "Saakashvili won the election with 500,000 more votes than Levan Gachechiladze, and a second round of elections is out of the question."
Gachechiladze, who received more votes than Saakashvili in almost all the polling stations in the capital, Tbilisi, has alleged that the January 5 elections were rigged.
However, Saakashvili has already received congratulations from a number of foreign leaders, including the Ukrainian and Azerbaijani presidents.
Washington has hailed what it called "the country's first genuinely competitive presidential election" despite "serious problems."
Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that it doubted the democratic nature of the elections, citing pressure on opposition candidates and the widespread use of so-called administrative resources to aid Saakashvili's campaign.
A poll carried out on Thursday said a total of 52% of Georgians were sure that political turmoil in the tiny ex-Soviet republic would grow in the near future, while 41% believed that the current conflict could and would be resolved peacefully.
