Shalva Natelashvili, the leader of opposition Labor Party, said his party would join calls for protest rallies following ex-Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili’s arrest and added that snap elections were needed to overcome, as he put it, the current crisis.

“Okruashvili is a political prisoner,” Natelashvili said.

“It is clear that he was arrested because of his allegations levelled against Saakashvili and not because of the government’s so-called anti-corruption drive,” he added.

Natelashvili said the country was in “a deep political crisis” and the country faced “a total breakdown of the state machine.”

“Radical decisions and reforms are needed to overcome this crisis,” he said. “We categorically call on the president to resign and to hold snap elections. We also want the post of the president to be scrapped.”

He said “peaceful means” and “civil resistance” should only be used to advance these goals.