Ex-Pres Saakashvili: ‘I take responsibility’ for 2012 election defeat, but others ‘helped Ivanishvili come to power’

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Mondaysaid he took responsibility for the 2012 defeat of his United National Movement, but accused unnamed individuals within the party of helping Bidzina Ivanishvili come to power.

“The prison broke from within in 2012, and I do not absolve myself of responsibility for this. I should have acted differently, but some people were bought off and helped Bidzina come to power,” Saakashvili said during a court hearing.

Saakashvili stressed it was not the time for divisions between opposition parties and called for unity against Ivanishvili and the ruling Georgian Dream party.

“We are not planning to drive anyone out of [currently Russian-controlled] Abkhazia. We intend to enter peacefully,” he said, referring to Georgia’s breakaway region.

“The Georgian people do not like traitors, so we all need to stand together. This fight will not work if we do it separately,” Saakashvili said.

He accused Ivanishvili of seeking to destroy the United National Movement since 2012, saying that new opposition parties were now emerging and arguing that Saakashvili should be removed from politics before Ivanishvili could be defeated.

“Friends, now is not the time for confrontation or settling scores with one another. Let us stand together and first get rid of this, and afterwards perhaps I will separate from you - and you can go to hell,” Saakashvili said.