UNM’s Bokuchava: Ivanishvili forced democratic opposition into the same boat; something we should have achieved ourselves

“Bidzina Ivanishvili has forced Georgia’s democratic opposition forces into the same boat; an alignment that the opposition itself should have driven rather than leaving Ivanishvili to dictate,” stated Tina Bokuchava, former chair of the United National Movement, during an appearance on TV Pirveli.

Bokuchava lamented that the pro-democratic opposition came together only under duress from Ivanishvili, rather than through its own proactive political strategy.

“Aside from this forced, artificial unity, which stems not from our own initiative but from Ivanishvili’s manoeuvres, the party under its new leadership is, in my view, far more isolationist than I would hope,” Bokuchava noted.

“Ivanishvili himself has put the democratic opposition forces into the same boat. But this should not have been engineered by Ivanishvili; this was a consolidation that we, the opposition, ought to have forged on our own terms,” she added.