The spokesman said earlier today that Patarkatsishvili had again postponed his arrival in Georgia, but planned to be in Tbilisi by the end of the week.
"The government has provided no security guarantees for Patarkatsishvili. While the Georgian government is exerting pressure and terrorizing not only [presidential] candidates, but also their supporters, we are asking Patarkatsishvili not to return to Georgia," Valery Gelbakhiani said.
Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili called early elections after opposition protesters had filled the capital, Tbilisi, demanding his resignation as president.
Billionaire businessman Patarkatsishvili, who is suspected by Georgian authorities of seeking to instigate a coup during November's protests, was registered on December 9 as a presidential candidate for early polls due on January 5, 2008. He currently lives abroad.
November's protests were eventually brutally put down by riot police. US-based rights body Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that the Georgian government had "crossed the line" in its crackdown of the six-day long demonstrations, the largest since the Rose Revolution protests that brought Saakashvili to power in 2003.
