The Labor Party spent Tuesday gearing up for their planned “anti-vote rigging” march today, while presidential hopefuls get ready to submit their 50 000 signatures of support that will qualify them for presidential candidate status.

“Let’s gather outside parliament tomorrow and show this government that they won’t be able to falsify the election,” Labor leader and presidential hopeful Shalva Natelashvili told supporters yesterday.

The rally is due to start in Republic Square at 3 pm, and will see demonstrators march to the parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue.

Giorgi Gugava, Natelashvili’s campaign manager, called on the Central Elections Commission (CEC) to withdraw Mikheil Saakashvili’s application for presidential candidate status, at a press conference on December 4.

He criticized the incumbent president for using state resources in his re-election bid, and warned that Saakashvili plans to rig the elections. “Mr Saakashvili has withdrawn about GEL 1 million in order to rig the elections,” Gugava claimed.

Gugava added the Labor Party will formally appeal to foreign embassies in Georgia and the Council of Europe to respond to Saakashvili’s “illegal” actions.

Meanwhile, it was a slow campaign day for the United National Council, who officially unveiled their election platform on Monday.

Presidential hopeful Levan Gachechiladze presented his election package—which emphasizes a transition from a presidential system to a parliamentary republic as the opposition coalition’s “key priority”—in the western province of Guria yesterday.

The United National Council declared they intend to submit the requisite 50 000 signatures of support to the CEC today, ahead of the December 6 deadline, which should see Gachechiladze attain candidate status.

Campaign representatives for presidential hopeful Badri Patarkatsishvili, who is currently not based in Georgia, announced that his campaign headquarters will be officially opened this week.

Goga Zhvania, brother of the late prime minister Zurab Zhvania, who submitted Patarkatsishvili’s application for candidate status to the CEC on his behalf, told journalists yesterday that 60 000 signatures have already been collected supporting the businessman’s bid.