Ex-President Saakashvili calls for revolutionary, reformist platform and urges opposition to end infighting and rivalry with him

“Only resistance, only a revolutionary, reformist, and liberating platform uniting all forces will bring us true freedom, advancement, and progress,” declared the former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, during his court hearing.

Saakashvili urged his fellow opposition colleagues to abandon internal intrigues and cease their political rivalry with him.

“Everyone rejoices, saying, ‘Look, Ukraine has launched another strike, Ukraine has advanced, Ukraine will win’; but what are we rejoicing for? If we do not lift a finger ourselves, no one will come and save us. Only resistance, only a revolutionary, reformist, and liberating platform uniting all forces, will bring us true freedom, advancement, and genuine progress. Instead, the petty squabbling and endless debates over whether to boycott or contest the elections roll on. But how are we even going to have an election? Those who said yesterday they wouldn’t go are going now, and those who were going yesterday are staying home today. What absolute madness is this? What elections are you talking about? Elections do not happen in Georgia. Because elections are not held in Georgia, they must be fought for; the country must be reclaimed. The nation is trapped under a collaborationist, occupying, somnolent regime. What political processes are we talking about? We should be talking about a liberation process and a resistance movement, with elections being the ultimate outcome.

Therefore, I call upon all our opposition colleagues: let us put an end to the sniping, the petty intrigues, and everything else, and most of all, stop trying to compete with me. At a specific moment in history, I achieved what I achieved, and it stood as one of the greatest accomplishments in Georgia’s history. I can achieve far more yet. As for the rest, I would only welcome them joining us in this great struggle so that we can deploy the widest possible front. If they are not part of the resistance and liberation movement today, there is no way they will be part of the political process tomorrow. That is the reality.

I am absolutely delighted to see the mobilisation of the youth. The United National Movement must transform back into a true movement; it must emerge from the grassroots of the people. We were either destined to fade away inside television studios, which are themselves in terminal decline, or we must return to the heart of the people,” Mikheil Saakashvili stated.