Saakashvili decrees to hold presidential election in Georgia on October 27

In Georgia, the 2013 presidential election will be held on October 27, Manana Mandjgaladze, the press speaker of the President of Georgia, has reported. On Monday, Mikhail Saakashvili signed a decree with the date of the next presidential election, she said at a briefing in Tbilisi.

Under the current legislation, Mikhail Saakashvili, who is completing his second term in office, has no right to participate in the election.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the "United National Movement" (UNM) Party decided to elect its candidate through primaries. Georgiy Margvelashvily, the current Minister of Education and Sciences, the candidate from the ruling coalition "Georgian Dream" will compete with the UNM's candidate.

Besides, their intentions to run for the presidency have been announced by Nestan Kirtadze, the president of the "EU-Georgian-Abkhazian-Ossetian International Movement for Peace, Democracy and Development"; Shalva Natelashvili, the leader of the Labour Party; Salome Zurabishvili, the former Foreign Minister; and Nino Burdjanadze, the former Speaker of the Parliament and the leader of the "Democratic Movement-United Georgia" party.