Not to interfere in Georgia’s political processes

The administration of the President of Georgia has called on Georgia’s ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili to refrain from interfering in Georgia’s ongoing political processes and desist from making pre-election appeals to the population of Georgia prior to the October 8 parliamentary elections.

President’s Parliamentary Secretary Ana Dolidze has stressed that “Ukrainian citizen Saakashvili has no right to interfere in political developments in Georgia.”

Dolidze also said Saakashvili’s comments to the local NGO Young Lawyers’ Association was unacceptable and the ex-President lied when he said he was deprived of the Georgian citizenship.

“We cannot accept the fact that Saakashvili is trying to stain the reputation of one of the most influential organizations, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, which plays a very important role in the pre-election period,” Dolidze said.

“Besides which, Saakashvili lied when he said that he did not voluntarily cancel his Georgian citizenship. He knew very well that when taking the Ukrainian citizenship, he would lose Georgian citizenship automatically, as our legislation reads,” Dolidze said.

Dolidze stressed Saakashvili should not hinder friendly relations between Georgia and Ukraine with his behaviour.

The Young Lawyers Association said Saakashvili violated pre-election legislation with a recent video address to the Batumi population in which he encouraged them to vote for a certain individual.

According to the organization, a citizen of a foreign country has no right to participate in pre-election campaigning.

The organization called on the Supreme Electoral Commission of Adjara to put a sanction on Saakashvili and fine him 2000 GEL.

In response, Saakashvili expressed surprise over the statement of the NGO.

“I was deprived of Georgian citizenship by the instruction of the Russian oligarch’s [referring to Georgia’s ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili, who founded the current ruling Georgian Dream coalition and defeated the nine-year rule of Saakashvili’s party] puppets,” Saakashvili said.

“Please recall the motive of that decision and get a deeper insight into the true reasons. I remain faithful to my country. Citizenship is not defined by a blank document signed by the Russian oligarch’s puppets,” - said Odessa Governor Saakashvili.

Saakashvili, who remains wanted by Georgia’s law-enforcement bodies for several alleged breaches of the law, has done certain things under his presidency worth appreciating ( police reform among them).

One of the main reasons why his party failed to win the 2012 elections was multiple incidents of human rights violation and a serious risk that Saakashvili very soon would become a dictator.

He claims all the accusations against him are fabricated. He also said he would never revoke his Georgian citizenship. However, this happened automatically when he took Ukrainian citizenship.