President slams opposition, gov’t reactions on Saakashvili’s video ‘from Batumi’

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili says that neither the opposition nor the government’s reactions were appropriate on the alleged return of Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili. 

 

She said that the opposition parties ‘seem’ to be using the issue for speculation, while the state agencies failed to give a due response to the video which was released by Saakashvili yesterday, as he says from Batumi. 

 

Zurabishvili states the opposition reactions caused a suspicion that they are ‘more focused on destabilization and holding rallies’ rather than on elections, while the ruling party MPs, and not the state agencies which were responsible to say whether the video was authentic or not were commenting on the issue. 

 

She said that ‘no matter whether Saakashvili is in Georgia or not, the issue strained the election environment.’ 

 

Zurabishvili stated that the government is responsible to ensure fair and peaceful elections ‘which are in the best interests of the country.’