Hours before Mikheil Saakashvili admitted defeat, a senior Azerbaijani official told me that the Georgian president had nothing to worry about. He wasn’t the only one miscalling the result: from Tbilisi to Washington, few expected the stunning victory by the opposition Georgian Dream movement, led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who claimed victory in the country’s parliamentary elections.
4 Feb in 18:44 The Jamestown Foundation
The founder and leader of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, announced he is leaving politics forever. In his last interview with Georgian public television, Ivanishvili underlined that he would no longer support GD, either as head of the party or even as a member. By this, he, of course, meant that GD would no longer have access to his vast financial resources, The Jamestown Foundation writes in the article
“I made the decision to finally quit politics. I believe that my mission has been fulfilled. I am leaving the post of party chairman, and I will return to my pre-2011 private lifestyle,” he claimed. Ivanishvili assured that, “The GD ruling team is really the best, and there is no alternative to it among all political actors today.” He further argued, “[I]f you like me, vote for the leaders of this party [GD]. They are the same as me. […] I leave politics proud, victorious and grateful