The wife of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili is planning to establish a political party, which goal is to unite Georgian opposition. Archil Kbilashvili, the lawyer of the billionaire informed at the press conference on 11 January that the formation founded by Ekaterina Khvedelidze is to stand for parliamentary elections in October this year.
Bidzina Ivanishvili with his family, 5 January 2012 roku, source: facebook.com
Bidzina Ivanishvili and his wife Ekaterina were stripped of their Georgian citizenship under the decree issued by President Mikheil Saakashvili on 21 October 2011. Despite the fact that the billionaire lodged an appeal, on 27 December the City Court in Tbilisi upheld in regard to him the presidential decision. Yet, at the same time, it revoked his wife’s citizenship, allowing her consequently to build a new party and to aid husband’s political ambitions. “The elections are ahead. Ekaterina Khvedelidze is to establish a political party and form a list of candidates running for the Parliament”, said Archil Kbilashvili, the lawyer of the billionaire. Still, this information does not guarantee successful campaign. Without the citizenship, Bidzina Ivanishvili cannot apply for state financing the party.
Bear in mind that on 7 October 2011 Ivanishvili announced his plans on establishing a new political party. Since then, Georgian authorities are constantly making legal attempts to prevent him from achieving his political ambitions. At the beginning of November last year, 60 non-governmental organizations expressed their support for Ivanishvili. The billionaire-turned-politician was considering promotion of his son, 19 years of age, as a party leader, but the minimum age limit for candidates to the Parliament is 25.
Source: sakartvelo.info, en.tabula.ge, civil.ge, kavkaz-uzel.ru[mappress mapid=”967″]
