TBILISI (AFP) - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's party looked set Thursday for a landslide victory in elections criticised by international observers and rejected by the opposition.

Saakashvili's United National Movement had won 59 percent of the vote and the main opposition bloc 16 percent, the election commission said on its website after results from more than two-thirds of polling stations had been counted.

In a statement, observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe identified numerous problems with the vote and said the implementation of international standards had been "uneven and incomplete."

But they also noted substantial progress since a controversial snap presidential election won by Saakashvili in January and said there had been clear intent by political players to ensure the vote was democratic.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency, described the vote as "encouraging." The presidents of Lithuania and Poland, which had observers at the polls, also praised the exercise.

The elections were seen as a test of Georgia's democratic commitment after widespread criticism of Saakashvili for cracking down against opposition protests last November and briefly imposing martial law.

The vote also took place amid heightened tensions between ex-Soviet Georgia and its giant neighbour Russia over the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, which enjoys strong support from Moscow.

Georgia has sought Western support in its stand-off with Russia and a negative appraisal of the elections by the international community could hurt the country's hopes of joining NATO, a move strongly opposed by Russia.

In a sign of tensions, Georgia said Abkhaz rebel fighters shot and injured four people on Wednesday as Georgians in a border region were preparing to board a bus to take them to a polling station. Abkhazia denied the claim.

Earlier this month, Saakashvili said Georgia had come close to war with Russia after Moscow boosted ties with the separatists and sent hundreds of extra peacekeeping troops to Abkhazia.

Opposition parties meanwhile charged that the elections were rigged and vowed street protests. A rally held immediately after the vote on Wednesday, however, mustered only around 1,000 people -- far less than expected.

Saakashvili claimed victory on Wednesday night during a visit to western Georgia to see victims of the alleged attack by Abkhaz rebels and insisted that the elections had been "free and fair".

"I hope international observers will confirm that. But the most amazing thing is the landslide victory for the government party," he said.

Turnout in the elections was 55 percent, the elections commission said.

Saakashvili's party was set to win a strong majority both of the 75 parliamentary seats assigned under a party list system and the 75 assigned to single mandate constituencies.

But the main United Opposition Council slammed the conduct of the vote.

David Gamkrelidze, leader of the New Rights party, a member of the opposition bloc, said: "The opposition won these elections.... These elections had nothing in common with freedom and fairness."

Early results showed two other parties were on track to surpass the five percent threshold required to win party-list seats -- the Christian Democrats with about eight percent and the Labour Party with nearly seven percent.

The opposition supports NATO membership but accuses Saakashvili of being obsessed with international posturing and out of touch with the concerns of ordinary people still suffering economic hardship.

The opposition alleged before polls closed that a number of its activists had been beaten at voting stations and that one had been shot dead. Officials confirmed the shooting, but denied it was connected with the vote.

Saakashvili has been praised as a democratic reformer since coming to power in 2004, but he was criticised last November after sending riot police to suppress an opposition protest and briefly imposing martial law.

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