TBILISI -- Three Georgian opposition parties have called on other opposition groups to join together and launch protests to demand the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili, RFE/RL's Georgian Service reports.
The Conservative Party, the For A United Georgia movement, and the People's Party, joined by former presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze, issued a statement saying that free and fair parliamentary elections would be impossible while Saakashvili is president.
"Therefore, the only solution is to achieve Saakashvili's resignation through protest rallies and to hold free elections afterward," the statement says.
Support for Saakashvili has steadily fallen since the unsuccessful war against Russia over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia in August. Saakashvili was reelected as president in an early election in January 2008.
The Conservative Party, the For A United Georgia movement, and the People's Party, joined by former presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze, issued a statement saying that free and fair parliamentary elections would be impossible while Saakashvili is president.
"Therefore, the only solution is to achieve Saakashvili's resignation through protest rallies and to hold free elections afterward," the statement says.
Support for Saakashvili has steadily fallen since the unsuccessful war against Russia over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia in August. Saakashvili was reelected as president in an early election in January 2008.
