Former governor of Ukraine’s Odessa Region, Mikheil
Saakashvili, claims that he is ready to set up a new party called
Hvylya (Wave) for participation in early parliamentary
elections.
"It may be established depending on whether there will be an
early election," Saakashvili told Korrespondent magazine. Earlier,
he had urged President Pyotr Poroshenko to call early parliamentary
elections that might bring about a 90% renewal of the bodies of
power. However, last April, Saakashvili claims, "a deal was
clinched".
"(Arsen) Avakov has remained interior minister, while the post
of deputy prosecutor general went to a man with a Popular Front
background (Dmitry Storozhuk) to block criminal proceedings that
might have been opened against (Arseny) Yatsenyuk (former Popular
Front leader)," he said.
Saakashvili also said that Poroshenko at a certain point "openly
invited him to take the prime-minister’s seat, the position of the
leader of his party (Solidarity) and many other things," adding
that he refused.
Poroshenko on Thursday signed a decree to dismiss Saakashvili
from the post of the Odessa Region’s governor. Saakashvili had
tendered his resignation because, he says, there were no chances of
effectively fighting against corruption at a time when many top
officials were involved in fraudulent schemes.
Georgia’s former president, Mikheil Saakashvili, left his home
country in the middle of November 2013 several days before the
expiration of his second term of office and inauguration of
president-elect Georgy Margvelashvili (November 17, 2013). He has
lived in the United States and Ukraine since. On the 30th of last
May he was appointed the Odessa Region’s governor. On the same day
he was granted Ukrainian citizenship.
In 2014 Saakashvili was charged by the Georgian authorities with
a crackdown on peace protesters on November 7, 2007, illegal
intrusion into the building of the Imedi television channel,
misappropriation of assets that belonged to business tycoon Badri
Patarkatsishvili, with masterminding an armed attack against
parliament member Valery Gelashvili in 2005 and with squandering
budget money in 2009-2012. The charges were brought against
Saakashvili in his absence. The court ordered he should be remanded
in custody. On December 4, 2015 President Margvelashvili signed an
order to terminate Saakashvili’s Georgian citizenship because he
had become the citizen of another country (Ukraine).