Georgian opposition party United National Movement and opposition movement Strength is in Unity will nominate former President Mikheil Saakashvili for the post of prime minister if they are victorious in the upcoming parliamentary elections, United National Movement leader Grigol Vashadze said on Monday
TBILISI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th September, 2020) Georgian opposition party United National Movement and opposition movement Strength is in Unity will nominate former President Mikheil Saakashvili for the post of prime minister if they are victorious in the upcoming parliamentary elections, United National Movement leader Grigol Vashadze said on Monday.
In late August, Saakashvili posted a video address on Facebook in which he thanked Ukraine, where he served in several government positions, for being his "second home" and said that it was time to return to his homeland. He mentioned that he was ready to solve past mistakes and serve his country. Georgian Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani told reporters commenting on this address that the ex-president would be detained at the border if he tried to return to the country.
"Saakashvili should return to Georgia and be face to face with his people. That is why United National Movement and all the parties in the united opposition have decided to nominate him for the post of prime minister," Vashadze said at a briefing.
According to him, Saakashvili will provide details about his plan to return to his homeland later on Monday. The parliamentary elections in Georgia are slated for October 31.
Saakashvili, 52, served as the president of Georgia from 2004-2013. In 2013, he fled the country after being confronted with criminal prosecution by the new authorities. He entered Ukrainian politics in the spring of 2015, when then-President Petro Poroshenko granted him citizenship and appointed him the governor of the Black Sea coastal region of Odessa.
In October 2016, Poroshenko claimed that Saakashvili had failed to observe his pledges about the region's development and fired him. Saakashvili was eventually stripped of Ukrainian citizenship and exiled to Poland. Current Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reinstated his citizenship in May 2019 and let him return to Ukraine and appointed him as an adviser for reforms.
