The fifth president of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, spoke for the first time on the “Reaction” program on Pirveli TV about how the founder of Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, proposed she run for president. According to Zourabichvili, it all happened very unexpectedly. During a visit to the opera, Ivanishvili approached her and asked directly if she still wanted to become president.
She said that after her positive response, they did not have a single meeting to discuss her views or plans. According to her, Ivanishvili immediately presented her candidacy to the party. Zourabichvili noted that she still wonders why the choice fell on her, but has never received an answer.
“The first thing that was very strange was how I was nominated as a candidate. He approached me and asked: ‘You know that previously I was already a candidate, but was not allowed. Do you still want to become president?’ I thought for a moment—I had to answer right away. And I said: ‘Why not?’
After that, there was not a single meeting for him to find out what I thought. Everyone knew my pro-European views, my past, and my positions on Russia. But we never discussed one-on-one what I was going to do as president and how I saw my presidency. There was nothing of the sort. He simply went to the party and presented my candidacy, even though the party was against me. They had other ambitions, though I don’t know the details.
This became apparent as early as the first-round results. Everything was strategically planned so that I would feel as if I had won nothing on my own, that I was completely dependent on them, and was elected only thanks to their intervention.
The main question that still concerns me and my daughter is: why me? And I have no answer. One can make various assumptions. Perhaps they needed a pro-European shield. Or they thought that I, as president, would be easier to control. Although they should have remembered the Saakashvili precedent,” Salome Zourabichvili stated.