A European monitoring mission on Tuesday praised Georgia's parliamentary elections, calling the vote "an important step in consolidating the conduct of democratic elections."

President Mikheil Saakashvili on Tuesday conceded that the opposition coalition Georgian Dream defeated his ruling United National Movement party in Monday's elections.

A statement released by the observers said that the elections had been polarized and tense with sporadic cases of violence, but overall voting was calm and peaceful throughout the country.

"The Georgian people have freely expressed their will at the ballot box," said Tonino Picula, coordinator of the observation mission.

"The process has shown a health respect for fundamental freedoms at the heart of democratic elections, and we expect the final (vote) count will reflect the choice of the voters," he added.

A total of 63,300 observers were on hand to monitor the voting process, including 1,641 foreign observers from 61 Central Election Commission (CEC)-registered international institutions.

Fourteen other international institutions were denied registration on the grounds that they failed to meet the financial transparency criteria.

A total of 3,295 press personnel from both Georgia and abroad were registered by the CEC to cover Monday's vote.