Recently released ex-Interior Minister Merabishvili has ‘no plans’ to run for parliament
Former Interior and Prime Minister of Georgia Vano Merabishvili left prison in February 2020. Photo: Vano Merabishvili’s Facebook page.
Tweet 
Share
Former top figure of the United National Movement (UNM) government Vano Merabishvili, who left prison earlier this year, says that he has ‘no plans to enter parliament or take any governmental post’ after the October parliamentary elections.
In a Facebook post released yesterday Merabishvili says that the ruling Georgian Dream party has no chances to win the race, noting that the opposition’s unity will be ‘decisive’ in these ‘very important elections.’
Unfortunately, the opposition is frequently engaged with political trading and discussions on how to share seats and mandates, instead of offering something new to the public,” Merabishvili said.
Merabishvili believes that a ‘renewed UNM’ is the only force which is able to ‘win the elections and bring welfare to the people’.
The united opposition was unable to present joint majoritarian candidates in 24 of 30 majoritarian constituencies around the country.
One member of the united opposition, Giorgi Vashadze has left the bloc and created a new political platform with Tako Charkviani.
The elections in the autumn will be held in a different manner, with 120 MPs elected per the party-list based electoral system and the remaining 30 per the majoritarian electoral model.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has already nominated all 30 of its majoritarian candidates for the upcoming elections, both for the eight constituencies of the capital Tbilisi and the regions.
The ruling party says that the opposition has ‘zero chances to win the elections.’
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has responded to the release of former Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili and said that the “United National Movement [the party Merabishvili belonged to] is the past, we should think about the future.”
Former Interior and Prime Minister of Georgia, one of the most influential figures of the United National Movement (UNM) government, Vano Merabishvili left prison earlier today after serving almost seven years, stating that he is returning to politics and ‘guarantees’ the end of the current Georgian Dream leadership. Standing at Matrosovi prison Merabishvili told the media that the opposition is united around key demands. However, his close friends are now in different opposition parties.
Georgia’s former Interior and Prime Minister Ivane (Vano) Merabishvili is scheduled to leave prison on February 20, 2020.
The Georgian Ministry of Corrections has published the conclusions of a German lab regarding the health condition of imprisoned former Interior Minister Ivane (Vano) Merabishvili, amid speculations of Marabishvili’s lawyers that the former official has been poisoned in prison.
The European Georgia parliamentary opposition party has nominated 14 of 22 majoritarian candidates for the regions.
The CoE Committee of Ministers has urged for a more effective investigation to be conducted into the detention of former Interior and Prime Minister of Georgia Vano Merabishvili, who was released from prison earlier this year.