President Eduard Shevardnadze has dismissed the government of Georgia as a furore over media freedoms plunged the country into political turmoil.
Parliamentary speaker Mr Zurab Zhvania, the second-ranking politician in the fractious former Soviet state, said he was resigning, but fresh elections did not appear imminent.
Mr Shevardnadze had threatened to quit yesterday if deputies punished two top officials caught up in a crisis over free expression after police raided a television station that criticised the president.
But a spokesman said today Mr Shevardnadze would not step down.
"It is absolutely ruled out. It would mean the collapse of the entire country", he said.
Street protesters, who for two days had demanded that the interior minister and prosecutor general follow the security minister's example and resign, chanted anti-Shevardnadze slogans as deputies met in emergency session to discuss the crisis.
"I have made my decision", Mr Zhvania told parliament.
"Let us start consultations on finding a candidate for a new parliament speaker, who I think will be elected on Tuesday".
"And let us begin consultations as quickly as possible about the line-up of a new cabinet", said Mr Zhvania, a Shevardnadze loyalist long seen as a favourite to succeed him as president.
The crisis began on Tuesday when police raided independent Rustavi-2television, which has been sharply critical of Mr Shevardnadze on the economy, the separatist Abkhazia province and the alleged presence in Georgia of Chechen rebels.