Saakashvili: my release will lead to snap parliamentary elections in maximum 10 days

Arrested former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been in prison for 33 days, claims that his release will lead to snap parliamentary elections ‘in maximum of 10 days’ and the ‘final defeat’ of the Georgian Dream (GD) leadership. 

He says that what Georgian needs now is unity ‘for a common goal.’ 

Saakashvili called on opposition MPs yesterday to leave mandates in protest and fight for the annulment of recent municipal election results. 

Saakashvili, who is a citizen of Ukraine and currently chairs the Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Reforms Council, was arrested in Tbilisi a day before Georgian municipal elections on October 2.  

He says he returned to the country after eight years in political exile, ‘to save Georgia’ from the ‘pro-Russian rule’ of the Georgian Dream government.  

In 2018, the Tbilisi City Court twice tried Saakashvili in absentia and sentenced him to six years in prison for abuse of power.

Both Saakashvili and his United National Movement party expected that the ruling party would either lose or receive just a few votes in the recent race and the opposition would be able to demand snap parliamentary polls to remove it from power.

However, the ruling party has won 63 of 64 mayoral constituencies and received 47 percent of the vote in the proportional part of the race.

Opposition will take to the street starting today, while a large rally is planned in Tbilisi on November 6.