Georgian politics “unimaginable” without ex-Pres Saakashvili – opposition MP

Khatia Dekanoidze, a chair of the United National Movement opposition party faction in Parliament, said on Wednesday that distancing the jailed former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili from Georgian politics was “unimaginable”, responding to recent reports by the third President’s lawyers that Saakashvili had plans to quit politics to look after his heath. 

In comments, Dekanoidze, who took high post under Saakashvili’s presidency, suggested that Saakashvili’s quitting politics “had not been discussed inside the UNM”, noting that running in elections was “fully up to Saakashvili and the Georgian people”. 

Speaking about Saakashvili’s activeness on the Russia-Ukraine war and other questions relating to the war-torn country, Dekanoidze stressed that it was “natural”, because Saakashvili currently holds Ukrainian citizenship and chaired the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Reforms Council before being arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021. 

Saakashvili claimed he returned to Georgia  after eight years in political exile to support the UNM come to power again “via elections”. 

However, the Georgian Dream government said that the UNM’s and Saakashvili’s plans were “destructive”