(civil.ge) - President Saakashvili said he will submit an initiative to the Parliament on October 20 to hold presidential elections in 2008 about eight months earlier than originally scheduled.
He said that the presidential elections will be held simultaneously with the parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for 2008, reports Trend.
There is no need to hold elections once every year and there is no need to waste so much time and energy on elections… I want to hold [parliamentary and presidential] elections simultaneously, Saakashvili said, without specifying any other motives behind the initiative.
Saakashvili said that he has already held consultations about the relevant constitutional amendments with Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze.
The next presidential elections are currently scheduled for April 2009.
The initiative about early presidential polls will cut Saakashvili's term in office for about eight months, but he stressed that it will be a one-time measure, that will not be applicable to the next [presidential] term.