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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN UKRAINE

Saakashvili advises Zelensky to start with prosecution of Poroshenko, his entourage

Georgia’s former president warned that after the elections the winner would have a pile of problems to confront: ware, corruption and poverty.

Mikhail Saakashvili Piotr Sivkov/TASS

Mikhail Saakashvili

© Piotr Sivkov/TASS

KIEV, April 16. /TASS/. Georgia’s former president, ex-governor of the Odessa Region, leader of the Movement of New Forces party Mikhail Saakashvili has advised Ukrainian presidential candidate Vladimir Zelensky on what should be his first steps as a politician in the event of his victory in the presidential election runoff on April 21.

He expressed the certainty the era of President Pyotr Poroshenko was gone and Zelensky was in fact slated to become the next head of state.

"No falsifications or administrative leverage will help Poroshenko win. If only he does not resort to the most radical measures," Saakashvili said.

He warned that after the elections the winner would have a pile of problems to confront: ware, corruption and poverty.

"The worst thing, though, is the fierce resistance of the old system, which is going to unite against you... Your number one task will be real struggle against corruption and its embodiment - the Poroshenko system."

Saakashvili believes that it will be essential to appoint a prosecutor-general "who will not succumb to threats from Poroshenko and his gang."

"If criminal proceedings are launched against corrupt officials and taken to the logical outcome, if the culprits, starting from Poroshenko and his entourage are brought to justice, it will be far easier to proceed along the road of reform," Saakashvili believes. "Poroshenko and his ‘family’ must leave politics. Remember this and try to avoid the fatal mistakes your predecessors had committed," Saakashvili said.

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Ukraine Mikhail Saakashvili

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