Georgia's ex-foreign minister and founder of Georgia's Way party, Salome Zourabichvili, announced on November 11 that she was temporarily quitting the politics - five years after going into opposition.

"There is not even the minimum of democracy in Georgia required for the opposition to exist," she said, adding that she was taking "time out" from the Georgian politics.

"Yes I am going, but I'll be back. Those who might be happy about my departure, might not be happy about my comeback and the time of this comeback will arrive," she said.

Born in Paris to an immigrant family that fled Georgia in 1921, Salome Zourabichvili, 58, was ambassador of France in Tbilisi before she was offered by President Saakashvili to take the post of Georgia's Foreign Minister in March, 2004. Probably the most notable achievement in her ministerial tenure was negotiating with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov withdrawal of Russian military bases from Batumi and Akhalkalaki.

Following a confrontation with the senior ruling party lawmakers in October, 2005, she was dismissed, after which Zourabichvili founded an opposition party, Georgia's Way. Zourabichvili, who was among the most fierce critics of the government, said on November 11, that her party, which has one seat in the Tbilisi City Council, would remain on the Georgian political scene.

She said in her new capacity, she would be a coordinator of UN panel of experts on Iran. Zourabichvili, however, emphasized that important was why she was quitting the politics and not where she was going. Zourabichvili added that the Georgian authorities failed to deliver with the expectations of the Rose Revolution.