Ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili said without elaborating details that he does not want to have anything in common with “one or two whimsical persons” from the opposition United National Movement (UNM), who “prescribed defeat” for us.

Inner-party confrontation became obvious after the October parliamentary elections, when the majority of the UNM’s political council rejected Saakashvili’s calls to boycott the legislative body and started to prepare for a congress to elect a new chairperson. The confrontation became even stronger in social networks, where Saakashvili’s supporters confronted those members of the party, who refused to boycott the Parliament, accusing them of making a deal with Ivanishvili and trying to get rid of Saakashvili.

“I do not want to have anything in common with those one or two whimsical persons, including from the party leadership, who do not listen to our activists, who made so many mistakes, who practically prescribed defeat for us not only in the past, but also in the future,” Saakashvili said, who is the founder of the UNM party.

Giga Bokeria, one of the leaders of the UNM party, refused to respond to journalists’ question, whether Saakashvili referred to him in his remarks, but said that he still adheres to the position that the party should enter the Parliament.

“I understand well the emotion and irritation of some of our members, leaders or supporters, but I still adhere to the position that despite violent and non-free elections, the only correct decision was to struggle in the second round runoffs, regardless of results, and enter the Parliament at this historical moment,” Bokeria said on November 10.

“It was a correct decision for the interests of our country, our party and ultimately, for the purpose of democratic defeat of Ivanishvili’s regime,” he continued. “I also believe that pushing the processes into the streets would have been, in the best-case scenario, letting off steam that would have brought nothing good either to the country at this specific moment, or to the party and the issue of defeating Ivanishvili’s regime.”

In a video address posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday, Saakashvili said that Ivanishvili rigged elections and instead of uniting supporters and calling on them for irreconcilability, “they are pointing a finger at someone - as if Saakashvili is the problem.”

He also slammed the November 4 decision of the UNM’s political council, which as he put it, “has been perceived as if they condemn and distance themselves from their own supporters and activists.”

“They do not have a problem with Saakashvili, but they have a problem with their own people and first of all, with our numerous supporters,” Saakashvili said, who after resigning as governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region, decided to launch an opposition movement.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who appointed Saakashvili as governor of Odessa region in May 2015, signed his resignation letter on November 9. The Ukrainian President’s office linked Saakashvili’s recent political activities in Ukraine with defeat of his party in Georgia’s parliamentary elections.

“I am involved in a great job here, in Ukraine and I am going to win … But I do not stop thinking about my country even for a minute,” Saakashvili said.

“It is absolutely clear – I will help our people, our activists, we will fight and definitely win in Georgia,” he noted.

He also said that his wife, Sandra Roelofs, who following defeat in the majoritarian MP elections refused to enter the Parliament under the proportional representation, “proved to be a strong leader.” 

“She will not stop; she will continue her struggle and this struggle will be a part of our future common victory,” Saakashvili added.