On November 20, Kakha Kaladze, the Tbilisi Mayor and Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, warned President Salome Zourabichvili about not freeing former president Mikheil Saakashvili.

In his comments, Kaladze asserted that if Zourabichvili granted the former official's pardon, she would turn into a facilitator of the line of the opposition United National Movement party. "If Salome Zourabichvili does all this and takes a step regarding the pardon, she will be a sharer and a facilitator of the same line that the United National Movement and Saakashvili represent," he added. The ruling party official stressed that UNM was using everything for [stoking] hatred, blackmail, and bullying and further accused the party of psychological terror.

Moreover, Georgian Justice Minister Rati Bregadze noted that as a result of the voluntary renunciation of his Georgian citizenship, the imprisoned Mikheil Saakashvili has no legal leverage to engage in domestic politics. Bregadze said that the opposition United National Movement party was an organization controlled informally, including by a foreign national.

"I think it is a clear example of what a political party should not be like. Probably, citizens of Georgia will once again pass a rather harsh political verdict on [this] informally run political union," he said.

Read also:

Saakashvili Addresses Informal Governance and Party Responsibility

Tbilisi Mayor: "If President Pardons Saakashvili, It Will Make Her Career Very Difficult"