Ex-President of Georgia arrested

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 03 Oct 2021 by Alex Teddy

Mikheil Saakashvili flew back into Georgia on October 2 for the first time in several years. He had been living in Ukraine. The governing party (Georgian Dream) won local elections on October 3 with 47% of the votes. The opposition says the elections were rigged. Georgian Dream has been accused of weaponizing the judicial system in a bid to repress the opposition. In May 2021, Georgian Dream vowed to hold parliamentary elections if it won under 43% in these local election. The EU midwifed the deal between Georgian Dream and the opposition. Georgian Dream has cleared the 43% bar.The EU and the US are very well-disposed towards Georgia. They perceive it as a bastion of democracy in the region. But they are perturbed by democracy's being degraded there.The United National Movement (UNM) said that the elections were a sham due to intimidation and corruption leading to bogus votes. Saakashvili is a member of UNM though not its leader. There is a second round of the elections in several cities including Tblisi. On October 30 the second round will be held. Saakashvili was arrested on October 1 just after he flew in. He has been charged with abuse of office. He was given a 6-year jail sentence in absentia. He has gone on hunger strike.Saakashvili is a Ukrainian citizen and had his Georgian citizenship taken away several years ago. Ukraine wants him freed. Saakashvili said oligarchs are wrecking democracy. This was a dig at former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili. The billionaire is l'eminence grise of Georgian Dream but does not have a position in it.In October 2020 the opposition said that the parliamentary elections were fixed. This caused large-scale demonstrations. Curre...

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