MOSCOW, Reuters – Georgians will vote on Saturday in the local elections. The results could heighten tensions between the ruling and opposition parties just a few days after Mikheil Sakashvili was arrested as an ex-president.

Saakashvili, who left Georgia in 2013 and was sentenced to prison in absentia in 2018, was arrested https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/georgian-ex-leader-says-he-is-back-home-despite-jail-threat-authorities-deny-2021-10-01 on Friday after he returned to Georgia and called on his supporters to vote for the opposition and stage a post-election street protest.

Georgian authorities warned that Saakashvili would be detained if they found him again. Salome Zourabichvili, the President of Georgia, said that she will not pardon Saakashvili after his arrest and also accused him for trying to destabilise her country.

Saakashvili was detained on Friday by his lawyer. Saakashvili 53, published a statement on Saturday that his lawyer had posted on Twitter and stated that his arrest was based on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s false, fabricated verdicts.

Putin and Saakashvili have long histories of feuding.

Anxiety reached its peak in 2008, when Russian peacekeeping forces got into a short war with a separatist region in Georgia. This was where Saakashvili was still in power. Putin, at that time Russian prime minister, endorsed military actions.

On Friday, the Kremlin stated that Saakashvili’s issue was not within its sphere of responsibility.

In a country with around 3.9million inhabitants, the elections include voting for Tbilisi’s capital Tbilisi mayor. These results have become significant amid the political turmoil that has raged since last year’s parliamentary vote, which led to opposition members boycotting the chamber.

In February, Saakashvili’s head of the opposition party, United National Movement (UNM), was detained but released by the European Union in May. This push came amid an effort to reach an agreement between the government, and the party.

The deal was dissolved when the Georgian Dream party resigned.

Deal stipulated that Georgian Dream must call for snap elections to be held if the party fails to get 43% support at Saturday’s elections.

Recent opinion polls showed that 36% of Georgian Dream supporters are in support, which is below the threshold.

Although the agreement has been dissolved, analysts warn that protests could be triggered if the ruling party does not reach the required threshold and fails to hold snap elections.

Soso Dzamukashvili (junior researcher, Emerging Europe) stated that “If Georgian Dream does not get the 48.22% it received in previous parliamentary elections,”.