Georgia billionaire may run against president

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A billionaire Georgian powerbroker says he is seriously considering running against President Mikhail Saakashvili in January's election to prevent his country sliding into "dictatorship".

Badri Patarkatsishvili, who is accused by Georgian prosecutors of plotting a coup, told Reuters in written answers from Tel Aviv that the president had lost legitimacy and was no longer the real leader of the Georgian people.

On Thursday, Saakashvili called an early presidential election for January in an attempt to ease a crisis that has rocked foreign and domestic confidence in his presidency.

When asked if he would run for president, Patarkatsishvili said: "As to me personally, this is the most serious responsibility and I am seriously thinking about it.

"I think the opposition understand that now -- as never before -- unity is essential. Georgian society needs one single candidate from the opposition."

A flamboyant businessman who earned a fortune in Moscow as the Soviet Union crumbled, Patarkatsishvili initially supported Saakashvili when he came to power in 2003 on the back of the Rose Revolution protests.

But Patarkatsishvili later turned against the U.S.-educated lawyer and played a key role in bankrolling the opposition, which he said he would continue to finance.

Saakashvili sent in riot police to crush opposition protests and called a 15-day state of emergency which banned big meetings and ended all independent news television programs.

"I... am going to use all my efforts and all my funds so that outrageous legal violations and terror in our country are ended for ever, so that the principles of democracy can finally be victorious," Patarkatsishvili said.

COUP PLOT?

Georgian officials said they had foiled an attempted coup and on Friday prosecutors said they wanted to question Patarkatsishvili as a suspect for trying to foment a coup.

"The Prosecutor's office will take actions to bring Patarkatsishvili to the investigation body and to question him as a suspect," the prosecutor-general's office said in a statement.

Patarkatsishvili did not comment on the charges against him.

Saakashvili said Russian special forces had been trying to stir up the disorder. Russia denied that and said the claims were a ruse to distract attention from the crackdown in Tbilisi.

When asked about Saakashvili's accusations against Russia, Patarkatsishvili said: "That is complete rubbish.