Ruling party MP skeptical UNM opposition may hold large rally in Tbilisi

The ruling Georgian Dream party MP Mikheil Sarjveladze is skeptical that the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party will manage to gather many people on central Rustaveli avenue in Tbilisi on October 14 ‘for a large-rally.’ 

He says that everyone in the country has the right to hold a rally. However, he questioned  the demands and goals of the demonstration.

The UNM will demand the release of its founder, ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili from prison during the rally.

Saakashvili was detained in Tbilisi on October 1, a day before municipal elections in Georgia  

He left the country back in 2013, shortly after the Georgian Dream coalition defeated his UNM in the 2012 parliamentary race.

Saakashvili claims he returned after eight years in political exile to mobilise the opposition supporters to ‘save the country from the regime of the Georgian Dream’.

He believed that the UNM would defeat the ruling party in the municipal race which would lead to snap parliamentary elections and the change in authorities.

Saakashvili was convicted for abuse of authority back in 2018 and sentenced to six years in prison in absentia

He has also been charged with four other cases related to illegal takeover of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal and illegally crossing the border, which are ongoing.