US Senator Shaheen: I don’t think ex-president Saakashvili’s return will be useful for Georgia
Shaheen has underscored the importance of reaching an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties for the country ‘to achieve its goals.’ Photo: video grab.
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US Senator Jeanne Shaheen has stated that former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s return to the country is unlikely ‘to be useful’ and won’t ‘help ease the situation’ in Georgia.
In an interview with the Georgian bureau of Voice of America (VOA), she also noted that after the parliamentary elections in 2012 when the United National Movement (UNM) lost the race and the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party came to power, Saakashvili who was Georgia’s president under the UNM-led government ‘discredited himself.’
Former President Saakashvili was defeated in free and fair elections in 2012. I was an election observer then and I saw how that election was held,” Senator Shaheen said.
She reaffirmed her support for the country and noted that she wants to see a successful Georgia.
I want to see more closeness between the US and Georgia and more help from the US for Georgian people to achieve their goals,” stated Senator Shaheen.
Shaheen has also underscored the importance of reaching an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties for the country ‘to achieve its goals.’
Saakashvili has released a video earlier today claiming that he is in Georgia’s seaside town of Batumi after eight years of political exile and urged the country’s citizens to vote against the ruling party on approaching October 2 municipal elections.
However, the GD has denied Saakashvili’s return to the country and stated that the released video by the former president is fake.
Mikheil Saakashvili is charged with several criminal offences and the ruling party says that he will be arrested ‘as soon as he crosses the border.’
Head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Irakli Kobakhidze says that Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s recently released video allegedly from the Georgian city of Batumi is a fake and that Saakashvili is a ‘clown.’ “I can say for sure that the video is fake. Saakashvili is not in Georgia,” Kobakhidze said. The Georgian Interior Ministry also claims that Saakashvili has not crossed the Georgian border.
Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili released a live video allegedly from Georgia’s coastal city of Batumi late yesterday and said that he is already in Georgia ahead of tomorrow’s municipal elections. In the video Saakashvili has urged the public to vote for the United National Movement (UNM) in the elections and if not the UNM, then some other, smaller, ‘real opposition parties’ and not for the Georgian Dream ruling party (GD) or ex-PM Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia party.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan has commented on Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s alleged plan to return to Georgia on October 2, the day of municipal elections in the country, and said that ‘what Georgia needs now is a peaceful, calm election environment and not political instability and violence.’ Degnan said that many statements have been made on the alleged return of Saakashvili and she had no plans to go into details.
MEP Viola Von Cramon has stated that former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s return to the country for the October 2 municipal elections ‘will not serve the interests of Georgia,’ noting that it will deepen the crisis and create unnecessary tension. Saakashvili pledged earlier in September that he will return to Georgia for the local elections and published a photo of a reserved ticket from Ukraine to Georgia yesterday.
US Senator Jeanne Shaheen says that she was happy that the Georgian October 2 municipal election day was ‘well-administered and peaceful,’ but added that elections are not only about election day itself.