TBILISI, December 9 (RIA Novosti) - Fugitive Georgian tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, accused of organizing a coup attempt in Georgia, was registered on Sunday as a candidate at the early presidential elections in the South Caucasus republic.
Early presidential elections were announced in Georgia after demonstrators had taken to the streets from November 2-7 demanding the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili over corruption allegations. The protests were eventually put down by riot police, and Saakashvili subsequently announced snap elections for January 5.
Patarkatsishvili, who is living in London, earlier pledged to return to Georgia in the near future to run his election campaign.
Conservative Party MP Kakha Kukava said on Saturday that the Georgian opposition had agreed that all of their candidates, including Patarkatsishvili, would "stand together until the end" to resist any attempts by Georgian authorities to falsify the results of the polls.
