More than one hundred thousand people registered to meet Saakashvili in Georgia

104,000 people have registered on a portal created to help Mikheil Saakashvili return to Georgia peacefully, the initiator of the project, Tako Charkviani, said on September 30. The former president of Georgia will be detained at the airport, as well as everyone who tried to prevent his detainment, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili warned.

The third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, announced the victory of the opposition in the parliamentary elections in 2020 but withdrew his claims to the post of the prime minister of the country. At the same time, Saakashvili admitted that he was worried about the lack of an opportunity to return home. Saakashvili lost his Georgian citizenship, as he did not obtain dual citizenship by law, having received a Ukrainian passport. Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's announcement to return to the country has sparked controversy over whether he should be expected to arrive.

Saakashvili claims he returned to Georgia

Saakashvili posted videos on Facebook in which he claims to be in Batumi. The videos were recorded at night (30 September), and there are no clear landmarks to determine where they were filmed. Saakashvili urges citizens to come to the polls on October 2 and then gather in the centre of Tbilisi.

Before publishing the video, Saakashvili also posted a note: "Good morning, Georgia, after 8 years." The former president was absent from the country for eight years.

Saakashvili, who has spent recent years in the West and Ukraine, previously announced that he would return to Georgia on the day of local elections, on the evening of October 2. He even showed an air ticket to Georgia in his name for that day.

The Georgian Interior Ministry said that the former president did not cross the country's border. His associates do not confirm or deny his return.

Municipal elections will be held in Georgia on October 2, at which the mayor of Tbilisi will also be elected. The city's administration is currently headed by Kakha Kaladze, a representative of the ruling Georgian Dream party. The rival of the incumbent mayor will be MP Nika Melia, a candidate from the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party. Saakashvili founded UNM in 2001. The opposition threatens mass protests if there are suspicions of election fraud.

Mikheil Saakashvili was sentenced in absentia to three years in jail in the case of abuse of power when pardoning those convicted of the murder of businessman Sandro Girgvliani and six years in the case of the 2005 beating of parliament member Valery Gelashvili. He is also facing other charges. Saakashvili called his criminal prosecution a political order of the leader of the "Georgian Dream" Bidzina Ivanishvili, whom, in his opinion, Russia is behind. In 2015, Ukraine refused to extradite Mikhail Saakashvili to Georgia.