During a recent presentation of the initiative group for creating a new opposition party, "Georgia's dream is a democratic Georgia", Bidzina Ivanishvili was asked why his wife, Ekaterina Khvedelidze, whom he had named the future chairman of the party, was not present at the event. Ivanishvili replied evasively, hinting that he still expects to obtain Georgian citizenship and, in this case, he will head the party himself, removing the political burden from his life partner.
But this immediately raises two inevitable questions: If Ivanishvili thinks that Eka Khvedelidze should only be the formal party leader, how will she be able to perform the essential functions of public policy - to participate in debates, make statements, conduct pre-election meetings, rallies and so on? As it turns out, she will voice the will of her husband. And given the characteristics of the Caucasian mentality, the attitude to her (and Ivanishvili’s party) will be specific: "the wife’s party." Despite all the respect for Ekaterina Khvedelidze as an exemplary wife and mother of four wonderful children, the political perception will definitely influence the voters’ choice.
The second question: if Bidzina Ivanishvili decided to entrust the management of his, not yet completely formed, party to another person, was there really no single figure in the nearest neighborhood of the billionaire who would be able to fulfil this mission? Such a choice would prevent the media, close to the authorities, from accusing the new politician of clannish behaviour. In Georgia this is a terrible accusation. Notably, the "Rose Revolution" in 2003 was precisely against "the clans ruling the economy." So it seems that either Bidzina trusts no one else from his large team (together with whom he built his business empire), or he decided to ignore the demands of society, based on the traditional "male chauvinism" of the Caucasus and on the usual suspicion on the part of women, inherent in “the fair part” of any socially active society. As was expected, it is the female part of society (which positively views Bidzina Ivanishvili himself) who perceived the categorical statements of his wife with sheer hostility.
Commenting on the decision of her husband, Ekaterina Khvedelidze boldly compared himself with Queen Tamara: "Entering into politics was our family decision. If you recall the great activity of women in Georgian history, you should admit that it was successful. Women have always been distinguished by integrity, commitment and dedication," the future head of the party stated. According to her, "the current government cannot not accept a law forbidding my husband to give me advice or help to make decisions. I'm not afraid of anything. I'm ready for everything."
Ivanishvili himself basically confirmed that he considers politics (in this case the formation of the party that claims the leadership of the country) as a family business: "The decision to include my wife in politics was taken by the whole family. We had another option - my 19-year-old son Uta, but since the Constitution of Georgia limits his right to participate in parliamentary elections, the best candidate proved to be Eka. She is not an under-age person. Accordingly, Khvedelidze-Ivanishvili will take part in the elections. She needs to include my family name with hers, because the population respects my name and associates it with hope. "
In Georgia, even less is known about Ekaterina Khvedelidze than about her husband. In one interview the billionaire just mentioned that he was "cunning, managing to marry a girl 16 years younger." Ivanishvili’s wife has led a secluded life: she never appeared in public and did not communicate with the press. But, according to political consultants, a wife is a serious political resource for any leader who aspires to power. Even a few years before Mikheil Saakashvili became a serious politician, his wife - a citizen of the Netherlands, Sandra Roelofs - appeared on morning TV-shows and cooked local dishes in front of TV cameras, carefully pronounced Georgian words, sang well-known folk songs to everybody, "simple-heartedly" told stories about her relations with her mother-in-law, distributed flyers in the subway and worked as a nurse in the most neglected clinics. In general, she skillfully played the role of a "simple and modest girl from Holland." Nobody remembers any political statement "by Sandra Roelofs" - either before or after her husband’s election as President.
But, judging by the first statements by Khvedelidze, she is ready to try the role of Corazon Aquino or Benazir Bhutto. "The authorities limit my husband’s right to political activity. That is why I have to take full responsibility," Ms. Khvedelidze said. The point in question is Ivanishvili’s deprivation of Georgian citizenship. Although the President deprived both spouses of citizenship, the Tbilisi Court overturned a presidential decree in respect of Khvedelidze - that is, it returned her citizenship, contrary to the state leader’s opinion. Evil tongues have already said that it was a very clever manoeuvre by Saakashvili, as if he figured out that his main rival should commit a mistake, leading his wife into politics and thereby violating a established tradition of the Caucasus: "A wife cannot live and should not be more active in important matters than her husband." In societies with a more civilized gender order it would not be this way, but Georgia is a Caucasian country, even given all her striving for Europe.
However, in starting this initiative, the billionaire has to act according to his own solution, getting more and more enmeshed in problems. For example, he decided to register a new television company "IGRIK" under his wife’s administration. Apparently, the reason for this is the same as when he could not trust his party to anyone else. And this is already a violation not only of Caucasian, but also of European political traditions, where direct participation in politics by the owner of an influential media resource is considered to be incorrect.
In general, having barely appeared on the political scene, Bidzina Ivanishvili has managed to pile up such a pyramid of errors that his victory in the upcoming election battle can be caused only by a political cataclysm (say a new war) or a series of blunders on the part of Saakashvili and his team. But such blunders are not visible: the President leads his own party quite cleverly, never says anything about his opponent, does not attack him personally, but, instead, every day conducts rallies in support of his own candidacy in the form of opening new clinics, schools and kindergartens in the regions of Georgia. In short, he has already started his campaign, which looks especially effective against the passivity of Bidzina Ivanishvili, who almost incessantly spends time with his family circle in his palace, which grandly but sadly looms over the capital.
George Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi, specially for "VK"
