Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is now governor of Odessa region in Ukraine and who chaired UNM party before losing the Georgian citizenship late last year, said that “uneducated oligarch” Bidzina Ivanishvili will be defeated this year.

He made the remarks, broadcast by Tbilisi-based Rustavi 2 TV, when commenting on violence outside one of the polling stations in the Zugdidi municipality in the Samegrelo region during local by-election in which some of the leaders and activists of the opposition UNM party were beaten by supporters of the ruling GDDG party, founded by ex-PM Ivanishvili.

“Ivanishvili will definitely be defeated and he will be defeated this year; he will be defeated by a large margin,” he said, apparently referring to parliamentary elections scheduled for October 8.

“Future can’t be stropped by evil forces of the past. They tried it today in Samegrelo; that was an insult to Georgia, including an insult to Samegrelo; they [GDDG] brought in people [who assaulted UNM members] there to try to solve political issues with violence,” he said.

He also said that Ivanishvili, whom he described as “uneducated oligarch from Chorvila” – Ivanishvili’s native village, will share the faith of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych “and possibly even worse if he does not come to his senses.”

“There will be no compromises with this dark force,” he added.