Status: 01.10.2021 6:33 p.m.
Georgia’s ex-president Saakashvili had lived in exile for years. He surprisingly returned to his home country for the local elections – and was immediately arrested.
He had announced it again and again in recent years, now Georgia’s former President Mikhail Saakaschili has returned to his homeland – and was arrested hours later. There was an arrest warrant against him.
But Saakashvili did not let that stop him. In the morning he presented his 1.3 million followers on Facebook with two videos that were supposed to show him in the port city of Batumi. The Interior Ministry immediately denied that Saakashvili had not crossed the border. Politicians from the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed that the videos were fakes. But that evening Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili announced that the ex-president had been arrested. There are now also pictures of the arrest. He was taken to a prison in Rustavi near the capital Tbilisi.
Call for votes
For the ruling party, the return shortly before the local elections on Saturday came highly unintentional. Saakashvili called for votes for his party, the United National Movement, or other opposition groups. His supporters should come to the center of the capital Tbilisi on Sunday to “defend the election results” together. Georgia’s survival is at stake.
Saakashvili implied that the ruling party could falsify the result. There were reports of manipulation attempts in advance. The Recognized Association of Georgian Young Lawyers cited the use of administrative resources to influence voters as an example.
Years of struggle
Saakashvili’s fellow campaigners see his secret entry as further evidence of the failure of the ruling party “Georgian Dream”. After nine years in power, she controls all important posts in the country.
Behind her stands the billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose goal in 2012 was to drive his declared enemy Saakashvili and his party from power. Saakashvili was sentenced to six years imprisonment in absentia, among other things for abuse of power.
In response to Saakashvili’s announcement that he would be returning for election day, the government threatened to arrest him at the airport. In the past few years he lived in Ukraine and is a citizen of the Ukraine. As governor of Odessa and advisor, he repeatedly caused a stir there, for example by accusing high-ranking politicians that they were corrupt.
Unrecognized in the home country
Saakashvili is also known for dramatic appearances. In 2017 he crossed the border crossing from Poland to Ukraine, at the time without a valid passport – surrounded by supporters and journalists, he ran past the border guards. It has now been speculated that he might have come to Batumi on board a Ukrainian cargo ship. The Turkish border is not far either. The terrorist Akhmed Chatajew had already crossed this border to Georgia unrecognized in 2017.
Fellow campaigners turned away
Despite his absence, Saakashvili repeatedly caused tensions in Georgia by intervening in election campaigns. However, he did not succeed in keeping his party together. Several of his closest colleagues founded their own parties. A point of contention was the coming to terms with the years of government in which Saakashvili had behaved increasingly authoritarian.
Georgians still complain that property has been confiscated from them by the state without compensation. A scandal over recordings of severe abuse in the overcrowded prisons finally turned the mood against him in 2012.
New scandals
In the current election campaign, a new scandal involving the mass recording of telephone calls and Internet communications rocked the country. This time the powerful Orthodox Church and foreign diplomats, including EU Ambassador Carl Hartzell and the environment of the German Ambassador, were also affected. Other important issues such as the economic and social crisis faded into the background once again.
A lot is at stake for the ruling party, because the result of the local elections should also determine whether an early parliamentary election will be held in 2022. This agreement is part of a compromise between the government and the opposition that the EU had negotiated. However, this only calmed the serious political crisis a little.
Saakashvili’s presence in the country is once again increasing tensions. Protests are to be expected, in which frustration about the situation in the country could also look for an outlet.