Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the Georgian Dream opposition coalition, met with ex-parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadze, leader of Democratic Movement-United Georgia (DMUG) party on August 19.

Burjanadze, who led street protest rallies in 2011 which were broken up by the riot police, announced on August 9 that her party “was putting aside political ambitions” and was not going to run in the October 1 parliamentary elections in order not to split opposition votes. DMUG, however, also said that it was not a boycott of elections and called on the voters to turn out at the polling stations on October 1.

Ivanishvili praised Burjanadze’s announcement as “absolutely patriotic decision.”

Georgian Dream’s press office said that during the meeting Ivanishvili and Burjanadze discussed current political developments in the country.

According to June poll, commissioned by the U.S. National Democratic Institute, Burjanadze led as the least favorable politician with 67% of respondents saying they ‘dislike’ her.