Georgians Vote in Local Election After Arrest of Ex-President Saakashvili

MOSCOW—Georgians vote in local elections on Saturday that could escalate a political standoff between the ruling party and the opposition a day after the arrest of ex-president and opposition politician Mikheil Saakashvili. Saakashvili, who left Georgia in 2013 and was sentenced to prison in absentia in 2018, was arrested on Friday after he returned to Georgia and called on his supporters to vote for the opposition and stage a post-election street protest. Georgia’s authorities had warned he would be arrested if he returned. President Salome Zourabichvili said after his arrest that she would not pardon Saakashvili, and accused him of deliberately trying to destabilize the country. Saakashvili’s lawyer denounced his arrest on Friday as a “political detention”. In a letter published on Saturday by his lawyer and on his Twitter page, Saakashvili, 53, reiterated his appeal to his supporters to cast their votes and said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s …

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