Tweet
Putin: Saakashvili to `Cling to Power'
© RIA Novosti. Aleksey NikolskiyMikheil Saakashvili
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose ruling UNM party was
soundly defeated in parliamentary elections on October 1, will try to
maintain his grip on power, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
`Saakashvili will try to cling to power,' Putin said in an interview
on the Central Television program broadcast on the NTV television
network on Sunday.
`I think he will try to offset defeat in the party lists with the
single-mandate constituencies,' Putin said.
Saakashvili's current presidential term - his last under
constitutional term limits - ends in October 2013.
Saakashvili was prompt in conceding defeat at the hands of the
opposition Georgian Dream coalition led by a bitter rival, billionaire
tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, a move that effectively silenced his
critics in Moscow.
Georgian Dream won 83 out of 150 seats in the parliament.
Saakashvili's UNM will have 67 seats.
The majority of the president's executive powers will be transferred
to the new prime minister under constitutional reforms that take
effect in January.
Georgia has had no diplomatic relations with Russia since they fought
a five-day war in 2008. And while Russia did not back either side at
the polls, there is great personal antipathy between Saakashvili and
Putin, who said of his Georgian counterpart in the aftermath of the
South Ossetia war that he would like to `hang him by the balls.'
From: A. Papazian
© RIA Novosti. Aleksey NikolskiyMikheil Saakashvili
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose ruling UNM party was
soundly defeated in parliamentary elections on October 1, will try to
maintain his grip on power, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
`Saakashvili will try to cling to power,' Putin said in an interview
on the Central Television program broadcast on the NTV television
network on Sunday.
`I think he will try to offset defeat in the party lists with the
single-mandate constituencies,' Putin said.
Saakashvili's current presidential term - his last under
constitutional term limits - ends in October 2013.
Saakashvili was prompt in conceding defeat at the hands of the
opposition Georgian Dream coalition led by a bitter rival, billionaire
tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, a move that effectively silenced his
critics in Moscow.
Georgian Dream won 83 out of 150 seats in the parliament.
Saakashvili's UNM will have 67 seats.
The majority of the president's executive powers will be transferred
to the new prime minister under constitutional reforms that take
effect in January.
Georgia has had no diplomatic relations with Russia since they fought
a five-day war in 2008. And while Russia did not back either side at
the polls, there is great personal antipathy between Saakashvili and
Putin, who said of his Georgian counterpart in the aftermath of the
South Ossetia war that he would like to `hang him by the balls.'
From: A. Papazian