TBILISI: Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, hoping to ease fears of instability, says he will not try to jail

President Mikheil Saakashvili when his rival steps down after Sundays election.

In an interview with Reuters late on Friday, he reaffirmed a plan to quit as the former Soviet republics premier in the weeks after Sundays vote and revealed he would nominate a member of his government to replace him, but gave no name.

Opinion polls suggest Georgy Margvelashvili, an Ivanishvilially, will win Sundays vote, a result that should improve prospects for stability after years of upheaval in a country crossed by pipelines carrying Caspian oil and gas to Europe.

But two European Union ministers expressed fears this week that Ivanishvili might take revenge on Saakashvili for blocking government decisions for months, by pressing for him to be prosecuted.

The Europeans and Americans ... are giving us friendly advice, which I agree with: that it would not be in the countrys interests if our president goes to jail, Ivanishvilisaid in his glass and metal residence overlooking the capital Tbilisi.

He said Saakashvili, catapulted into power by a bloodless revolution in 2003, could face questioning by police when he leaves office and loses immunity from prosecution. But Ivanishvili said he would not push for an arrest, adding: Its bad if a countrys president might go to jail.

He did not say what Saakashvili might be accused of, although he has previously suggested he might be asked about the death of a former prime minister, Zurab Zhvania, who was poisoned by fumes said to have come from a faulty heater.

His comments were clearly intended to appease two EU foreign ministers, Swedens Carl Bildt and Polands Radoslaw Sikorski, who urged him in Tbilisi last week not to take revenge on his rival though the courts.

Ivanishili predicted Margvelashvili would win 60 per cent of votes on Sunday - enough to avoid a run-off. Saakashvili cannot seek a third five-year term because of constitutional limits. He said his government had run the South Caucasus country of 4.5 million well since his Georgian Dream coalition defeated Saakashvilis party in a parliamentary election last October.

The election will be a good confirmation of that, he said, leaning back in his chair and looking relaxed in a casual blue sweater with an open-necked shirt and jeans.

Ivanishvili, now 57, entered politics two years ago because he was frustrated with Georgias course under Saakashvili.

At the time, few people in Georgia knew what he looked like but most knew of his fabulous business fortune, albino sons, private zoo with penguins and zebras, and art collection including works by Picasso, Matisse and Renoir. Forbes magazine has put his wealth at about $5.3 billion.

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