Ivanishvili cares only about power, unlike Shevardnadze and Saakashvili who valued ties with West, analyst

Political analyst Davit Zurabishvili has criticized the current Georgian leadership, saying it lacked a sense of statehood and was driven solely by the pursuit of power. Zurabishvili compared the approaches of former presidents Eduard Shevardnadze and Mikheil Saakashvili to that of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and honorary chair of the ruling party, arguing that unlike their predecessor, Ivanishvili disregarded the importance of Georgia’s relationship with the West.

“Both Shevardnadze and Saakashvili, in one way or another, took into account that Georgia’s relations with the West should not be damaged. Neither of them wanted enmity with the West, nor did they declare it an enemy. They understood that such a move would be a severe blow for Georgia,” Zurabishvili said. “Ivanishvili, I believe, doesn’t understand what’s wrong with this and cares only about maintaining power.”

Zurabishvili noted that, for the first time in Georgia’s modern history, the country was governed by people who “have no sense of statehood.”

“We’ve had many experiences in the past 30 years - different governments, political crises, and reforms - but we’ve never experienced a situation where an imperfect democracy is sliding into authoritarianism and nearly totalitarianism,” he said. “Such permanent deterioration of human rights and establishment of tyranny is new to us.”

The analyst drew a comparison with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, calling him an authoritarian but one who still acted in his country’s national interest.

“Aliyev is not a democratic leader, but he cares about the Azerbaijani state and tries to defend its interests,” Zurabishvili said. “Our authorities don’t understand what the state means. They can say one thing today, another tomorrow, insult someone, and then demand money from the same person later. This is not necessarily a Russian trait - all authoritarian regimes behave this way.”

Zurabishvili concluded that Georgia’s current government lacked not only democratic values but also basic state consciousness, a development he described as unprecedented in the country’s post-independence history.