For nearly a decade, Georgia has had its own Trumpian story: a billionaire who built a political juggernaut that made him the de facto leader of the country stretching from the Black Sea to the Caucasus ranges, The Washington Post reports.
“Now, the 64-year-old oligarch, Bidzina Ivanishvili, says he's giving it all up to concentrate on giving away his fortune as a philanthropist.
It’s an inspirational narrative — particularly because other leaders of post-Soviet states often cling onto power and rarely step down voluntarily. The big wrinkle: Few of Ivanishvili’s political opponents or regional political analysts believe it.
They say he will probably continue governing from behind the scenes, evading responsibility for a ruling party accused of increasingly anti-democratic leanings.
Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream coalition swept to victory in October’s elections, but opposition groups claim that the voting was rigged and have refused to take their seats in Parliament.
U.S. officials, meanwhile, have issued complaints about Ivanishvili’s leadership, including ties to Moscow, in a nation with ambitions to join NATO.
Ivanishvili’s pay-it-forward tone breaks with others in the region. Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrated constitutional changes that could keep him in power until 2036. Belarus’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, claimed he won a sixth term in August elections that were widely condemned as rigged.
It also contrasts with President Trump, who is now pondering his political future and released a video Wednesday noting the clout of his “movement.”
On Monday, the reclusive Ivanishvili released a letter saying that he’s quitting politics on his own terms.
“Since I am a closed person, I will return to my usual life,” Ivanishvili told The Washington Post in an interview. “And there will be no publicity. I will vote in elections like a normal citizen, and this will be the maximum of my civic activity,” The Washington Post says.
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