TBILISI: Georgia's opposition leader Bidzina Ivanishvili said on Wednesday he was ready for dialogue with President Mikheil Saakashvili and stepped back from his call for his rival to step down after losing elections.
Ivanishvili said that he had suggested Tuesday that Saakashvili quit after his party's shock defeat in Monday's parliamentary polls because "resignation could have been the best way out of the situation for the president".
But the Georgian Dream coalition leader insisted that he was not issuing any "political ultimatums".
"As far as my opinion expressed yesterday at a press conference concerning the president's resignation, this is not my or the coalition's political demand," he said in a written statement.
"We are ready for constructive relationships with representatives of the current authorities, including with the incumbent president."
Saakashvili's United National Movement party warned earlier Wednesday that attempting to force a resignation could cause "crisis and confrontation".
"Speaking about snap presidential polls today shows disrespect to the Georgian people and violates the constitution," the outgoing chairman of parliament from the ruling party, David Bakradze, told a news conference.
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