The Central Election Commission said on December 6 it had registered Mikheil Saakashvili as an official candidate for the January 5 presidential election.

The former president was the first contender to submit the required 50,000 supporters' signatures - a prerequisite for registration.

Twelve other contenders have also submitted signatures and the CEC is now in the process of rechecking the lists.

In the event of inaccuracies, the potential candidates will then have another two days to make corrections. The CEC will then rule who is eligible to be registered as a presidential candidate. Levan Tarkhnishvili, the CEC Chairman, said the process should be finalised by December 11.