Page 8 - GEORptOct21

2.2 Saakashvili announces he will return to Georgian on October 2, shows plane ticket
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has announced that he has bought a plane ticket for a flight to Tbilisi on October 2, the day of the mayoral elections in the country.
“Of course, as I said, I took a ticket for the evening of October 2, in order to be with you in Tbilisi and to protect your expression of will, as well as to take part in saving Georgia,” he said during a video message posted on September 27 on Facebook.
On September 16, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili made the claim that Saakashvili was still using drugs. According to him, this was proved by the online speeches of the former leader of the country.
At the end of July, Saakashvili announced on his social networks his intention to come to Georgia this autumn. After he left the country in 2013, a number of criminal cases were opened against him. He was subsequently sentenced in absentia to prison terms. The Georgian authorities have repeatedly stated that they will detain self-exiled Saakashvili as soon as he crosses the border. Saakashvili currently lives in Ukraine.
2.3 Georgian shows improvement in World Bank survey on governance in two categories
Georgia has shown improvement in the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) study in terms of political stability and the absence of violence and regulatory quality. The 2020 issue of the WGI compared its results to those of 2019.
Georgia received 30.66% from a total of 100% for political stability and absence of violence, which measures perceptions of the likelihood that the government will be destabilised or overthrown by unconstitutional or violent means, including politically-motivated violence and terrorism.
As for regulatory quality, which assesses reforms carried out by the government for the development of the private sector, Georgia received 83.65%.
The WGI 2020 reports aggregate and individual governance indicators for over 200 countries and territories over the period 1996–2020, for six dimensions of governance. They are:
● Voice and accountability, in which Georgia received 49.76% in 2020 (52.66% in 2019)
● Political stability and absence of violence - 30.66% in 2020 (27.83% in 2019)
● Government effectiveness - 75.48 in 2020 (76.92% in 2019)
● Regulatory quality - 83.65% in 2020 (82.69% in 2019)
● Rule of law - 61.06% in 2020 (62.02% in 2019)
● Control of corruption - 71.63% in 2020 (74.04% in 2019)
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili commented on the World Bank's study, saying that “Georgia has a leading and exemplary position in Europe
8 GEORGIA Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com