Elections singular way for Gov’t change, coup doomed to fail - ruling party Sec Gen

Elections are the only way to change the Government and any attempts to overthrow it will be “doomed to fail”, Kakha Kaladze, the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party and Tbilisi Mayor, said on Monday in response to comments by opposition leader Nika Melia on an “urgent need for changes in the state leadership”. 

In his remarks, Kaladze said the “radical” United National Movement party, founded by the currently imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili and chaired by Melia, “has always been interested in unrest and confrontations”. 

It is well-known to everyone that the UNM is a group which is interested in sparking unrest that would lead to a revolution. It is not my view - the party is open to [publicly] saying this. However, any such attempts will be doomed to fail. The Georgian Government will do its utmost to ensure peace and stability in the country”, Kaladze said. 

In a briefing on Monday, Melia accused the Georgian Dream Government and its founder Bidzina Ivanishvili of being “pro-Russian” and of “deliberate weakening of state institutions”, promising “immediate improvements” as soon as a “new political force” would take office.

Other opposition groups have announced street rallies starting September, in a bid to “change the Government and ensure Georgia’s European integration”.

• Ruling party MP: “difficult” to talk about national consensus when "radical opposition is trying to radicalise” political environment

In response, GD said the opposition’s moves were targeted “against Georgia’s European Union membership” and were dictated “only by their narrow political interests to grab power”.