OCT. 11 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – It almost feels like déjà vu. Four years ago Badri Patarkatsishvili, one of Georgia’s wealthiest businessmen, began funding political parties opposing President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been in power since 2003.

Now, the richest man in Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili, said on Oct. 7 2011 that he wants to set up a political party to break what he described as Mr Saakashvili’s near total monopoly on power.

Mr Ivanishvili, who lives a reclusive life in his native village in western Georgia, has the potential to be a dangerous opponent. For a start he is extremely wealthy. In its 2011 list of the world’s billionaires, Forbes magazine named Mr Ivanishvili at number 185 with an estimated fortune of $5.5b. He made most of his money in Russia in the 1990s in finance and now owns hotels, various real estate projects and a chain of chemists. He once paid $95m for a Picasso painting.

But there are also significant weaknesses. Firstly his close association with Russia, Georgia’s biggest foe, and secondly his dual French-Russian citizenship.

The National Agency of Public Registration has already said that the 55-year-old is not a Georgian citizen, banning him from funding any political party, and some officials have described him as a stooge of Russian PM Vladimir Putin.

Mr Patarkatsishvili stirred up Georgian politics and was at least partly to blame for triggering a state of emergency in 2007. The hasty character attacks on Mr Ivanishvili show that the authorities are wary of a repeat.

ENDS