“I have always been and remain a supporter of unity; however, a weak and fragile union will not be able to effectively oppose the ruling power,” stated the third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili.
“We did not dedicate ourselves to the struggle for Georgia so that those who should be fighting Ivanishvili [Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party] would once again make me their primary target. I have always been and remain a supporter of unity, but if this unity is so fragile that it breaks easily and intends to impose censorship on me, it will lack the strength to fight the regime.
To anyone not blinded by personal ego, it is obvious that I am the main problem for Ivanishvili. I have the greatest support in Georgia, and that is precisely why I have spent the most time in prison and face the most convictions. At the same time, I have never claimed sole leadership and have stated this many times.
In 2016, Ivanishvili used various individuals to sow division within the National Movement [United National Movement], when a large group split from us, significantly strengthening the regime. In 2018, when Bakradze was pitted against us, it thwarted the opposition’s victory in the presidential elections. And in 2024, when Ivanishvili brought Gilauri onto the stage and spent 10 million dollars through him, it became impossible to participate in the elections with a single list.
Furthermore, I have been completely blocked on opposition television channels—in the creation and preservation of one of which my role was decisive. As a result, the opposition failed to retain votes in the elections. I thought we had learned our lesson after that and moved on, but apparently, for some, things turned out differently.
We must tell each other the truth. How is it that the ‘Alliance’ has not made a single statement during all this time about people’s real problems—extreme poverty, the law on cars and bottles, and many other specific issues—yet finds the time to criticize me?
I did not accept censorship from a dictatorship, nor from the authorities in Ukraine or Russia. Friends, adjust your goals—it is time to get rid of the complex surrounding my figure and focus entirely on the task at hand. And if you are failing at something, do not say that ‘Misha is in the way’; you simply need to work harder,” Saakashvili wrote.
As a reminder, the “Alliance of Opposition” previously stated that no single party has the right to declare itself the sole representative of the opposition or the protest movement, or its exclusive leader.