Georgian PM calls foe Saakashvili 'political corpse'

Georgia's billionaire Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili on Sunday dismissed his arch-foe President Mikheil Saakashvili as a "political corpse" and warned that he could face prosecution after standing down this month. "Saakashvili is a political corpse. Never again can he have a political career in Georgia," Ivanishvili told AFP in an interview at his futuristic chrome-and-glass mansion on a hill overlooking Tbilisi. Pro-Western Saakashvili, who has dominated the Caucasus country since coming to power in the 2003 "Rose Revolution", has to step down when his second term ends with an election on October 27. Still just 45, Saakashvili has said he wants to remain active in Georgian politics after the election. Yet Ivanishvili warned that his nemesis could face prosecution over alleged abuses committed during his decade in power. "I think that there are too many questions for Saakashvili to answer and therefore there is a high probability that he will face questioning," Ivanishvili said. He insisted that prosecutors would take the decisions on any investigations and that they would not be politically motivated. Ivanishvili and Saakashvili have shared a fraught year-long political cohabitation since Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream coalition triumphed at parliamentary polls last October. That victory sparked a slew of investigations into Saakashvili's allies and the arrest of top former officials, drawing warnings from the West over perceived selective justice. Ivanishvili also confirmed his own intention to step down shortly after this month's presidential polls. "Within a week of the inauguration, I'll send in my resignation," Ivanishvili said, adding that he would name his successor before then. "I'll quit the prime minister's post before November 24." The 57-year-old billionaire tycoon turned politician has consistently pledged to resign early since coming to power. Giorgi Margvelashvili, the candidate from Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream, is favourite to win the vote. Despite opinion polls indicating that some 20 percent of voters are undecided, Ivanishvili said he was confident his candidate would win the 50 percent of votes necessary to avoid a run-off. "Our candidate will win -- almost certainly -- in the first round. There will be no second round, I insist upon it," he said. Ivanishvili has pledged that Georgia will continue to pursue closer ties to the European Union and NATO while also seeking to improve relations with Russia, which have been in tatters since the brief 2008 war between Moscow and Tbilisi over the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia. "Nobody can derail our country from our main strategy -- Europe and a Euro-Atlantic Alliance," he said. Ivanishvili -- whose premiership has been widely criticised for inefficiency and a flagging economy -- says that he will focus on bolstering Georgia's civil society after leaving office. "We must build democratic institutions and not just always look at who is president," he said, while declining to reveal any concrete details of his future plans. Seated in front of a painting by renowned British artist Lucian Freud, he denied claims that he will effectively continue to rule the country from the shadows. "What would be the logic in me ruling from behind the scenes?" Ivanishvili asked. "I am not going to act from behind the scenes."