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Saakashvili not plan to resign

23 January 2009 17:00 (UTC +04:00)

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said on Friday that he had no plans to resign ahead of time and that he would not run for a third term in office, APA reports.
The president said it in a live television interview in reply to questions by citizens from different parts of Georgia. â€œMy term expires early in 2013, and I am not going to resign ahead of time, but I also say with all responsibility that I will not run for presidency any more,â€ Saakashvili said.
He also said â€œthere is no need in holding an early election of president and parliamentâ€. â€œSome politicians believe that if I once resigned ahead of time (at the end of November 2007), I will also resign early now, but this is a wrong opinion. I am not going to resign early,â€ he stressed.
In line with the Georgian Constitution, one and the same Georgian national cannot occupy the presidential post more than two times. Saakashvili was for the first time elected president in January 2004, for the term of five years, but in November 2007 he resigned ahead of time, and in January 2008 he was once again elected president of Georgia. His term expires in 2013.