Thursday, October 7 2021 12:05

ArmInfo.Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili not simply came to Georgia, but also did everything for his own arrest. Gela Vasadze, senior analyst at  the Georgian Strategic Analysis Center (GSAC), expressed this opinion  to ArmInfo.

"Coupled with his appeal to the electorate not to be afraid and to  take part in elections to local self- government bodies, this was a  great, thoughtful step of a politician. I am convinced that  Saakashvili perfectly calculated all the risks before making this bet  in his political party," he stressed.

Having illegally returned to his homeland, the third president of  Georgia was detained in one of the civic districts of Tbilisi on the  evening of October 1. Saakashvili left Georgia in 2013 after the  change of power in the country. In Georgia, Saakashvili was put on  the domestic wanted list and convicted in absentia in the cases of  the murder of banker Sandro Girgvliani and the beating of MP Valery  Gelashvili.

According to Vasadze, it was Saakashvili's arrival and arrest that  mobilized the assets of his United National Movement party and  directed hesitant citizens to the ballot boxes. As a result, the UNM  managed to defend its votes in all those regions where the party  activists were mobilized. And, despite the victory of "Georgian  Dream" in most regions, the election results came as a real surprise  for the authorities.

According to the results of elections to local self-government bodies  in 2021 published on October 3 by the CEC of Georgia at 3,740 polling  stations, the elections were won by the ruling Georgian Dream party -  46.56% of the votes. The second place was taken by the opposition  "United National Movement" party of Mikheil Saakashvili's  - 30.7%.  In third place is the" For Georgia"  party of Giorgi Gakharia for -  7.79%.  The fourth was Lelo for Georgia ( lit. 'Try for Georgia') -  2.71%. The rest of the parties received less than 2% of the vote.

In this light, Vasadze noted that, in contrast to the "Georgian  Dream" campaign, the UNM campaign was rather weak, which was "  disguised" by the return and arrest of Saakashvili. In his opinion,  the latter opened a page of a new political reality for Georgia. And  for the authorities, Saakashvili became a source of headaches and  confusion.

"The authorities simply do not know what to do with Saakashvili now.  Especially against the background of a rather active reformatting of  the political field. Society, in turn, is watching what is happening  with anxious expectation. These are the sentiments in Georgia. And I  really do not think that the situation and internal political  impulses have stopped since summing up the results of local  elections, "the Georgian analyst summed up. -