Former Georgian Foreign Minister Zurabishvili Endorses Saakashvili Rival

Former Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili

TBILISI -- Former Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili has arrived in Tbilisi and announced her support for the opposition Georgian Dream political coalition of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Zurabishvili, who served as Georgian foreign minister under President Mikhail Saakashvili in 2004-05, was the head of the opposition Georgia's Way party but has not been active in local politics since November 2010.

She said she would not run for parliament but added that Georgian Dream is the only force in the country capable of unseating the Saakashvili government through the ballot box.

She described the current government as a "cancer" on the country.

Zurabishvili has said in the past that Saakashvili was "personally responsible" for initiating the August 2008 war with Russia that led to Moscow's recognition of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.