As protesters confronted massed ranks of riot police in front of Georgia's parliament last week, a slightly built woman picked her way through the crowd.

Georgian Dream was created and then bankrolled by a multi-billionaire called Bidzina Ivanishvili who made his money in Russia and is the richest man in Georgia. His party has been in charge for the past 12 years and has decided that closer ties with the West are no longer a good idea.