AFTER Bidzina Ivanishvili declared his intention to enter politics at the end of 2011, a barrage of claims and counter-claims polarised the country. Emotions ran high when Georgians went to the polls on October 1st. Given Georgia’s turbulent political history and the dominance of the United National Movement (UNM), the country’s first-ever constitutional transfer of power felt almost revolutionary.
Hopes for greater cooperation between Georgian Dream and UNM lawmakers received a significant blow on December 19th, following two events. The first was the arrest of six people on corruption charges, including a former energy and finance minister, and Nika Gvaramia, the recently appointed head of Rustavi 2 television station. The UNM called it an attempt to pressure Georgia’s independent media; the new government responded that the investigation began before Mr Gvaramia started his new job. The second event was a hostile demonstration  outside the UNM office in Kutaisi during a visit by President Saakashvili, when the police failed to control the crowd. Following both events, UNM MPs walked out of Parliament for the second time in six weeks. As UNM MPs continued their boycott the next day, Vano Merabishvili, the UNM secretary general, declared the party would have to work in other ways to prevent the country from reverting to its dark past .