A senior economic aide close to the interim president said Georgia would ask Washington for $5 million to stage new elections after a discredited November 2 parliamentary ballot which led to Shevardnadze's downfall.

Developments are being watched closely by Georgia's big neighbor Russia, and by Western powers wanting political stability to avoid problems with a pipeline being built through the territory to take Caspian oil to the Mediterranean Sea.

Shevardnadze, 75, resigned late on Sunday, bowing to three weeks of mass protests over economic mismanagement and widespread corruption during his 11 years in power, culminating in alleged vote-rigging in the November parliamentary polls.

Washington voiced support overnight for Nino Burdzhanadze, speaker of the outgoing parliament, who will act as head of state until new polls in the impoverished former Soviet state.

"The United States and the international community stand ready to support the new government in holding free and fair parliamentary elections in the future," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, adding that Secretary of State Colin Powell had called Burdzhanadze to offer support.

Under the constitution, presidential elections must be held within 45 days in the Caucasus mountain state of five million, but the status of the contested new parliament is ambiguous.

One strongly tipped candidate to replace the snowy-haired Shevardnadze is Mikhail Saakashvili, a 35-year-old US-trained lawyer who, with Burdzhanadze, led the protests that toppled him.

Powell also spoke to Shevardnadze, and Boucher praised the former Soviet foreign minister -- a hero in the West for his role in overseeing the end of the Cold War -- for standing down "in the best interests of (Georgia's) people."

For her part Burdzhanadze, addressing the nation in a broadcast late on Sunday, urged Georgians to restore order quickly.

"From tomorrow order and stability should be restored in the country and I appeal to all law enforcement agencies to return to a normal rhythm of work. And I appeal to our citizens to help them," she said.

Early on Monday, only small knots of protesters huddled round the dying embers of fires outside parliament. Tens of thousands of Georgians delirious with joy had danced late into the night, honking car horns, waving flags and embracing on news of Shevardnadze's departure.