UNM opposition member announces run for party chair, vows “end” to internal divisions
Levan Khabeishvili has pledged “stronger efforts” to “ensure the release” of convicted former president Mikheil Saakashvili. Photo: IPN
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Levan Khabeishvili, a member of the United National Movement opposition party, on Wednesday confirmed he would run for the chairmanship of the largest opposition group in Georgia after having initially dismissed reports on the intent.
In a briefing, Khabeishvili said he had made the decision after days of consultations with “friends and colleagues” and following the public calls by several members for a change in party leadership last Wednesday.
The opposition politician claimed if elected he would end “internal divisions” in the party which ran the country for nine years before its defeat by the current Georgian Dream government in the 2012 parliamentary elections, and said the UNM was “in need of a leader who will unite, and not divide” the party.
Speaking to the media, Khabeishvili also proposed the creation of a new office inside the party that would bring together political players, healthcare professionals, organisations and individuals “worried about the health” of Mikheil Saakashvili, the currently imprisoned former president of the country and founder of the party.
An incumbent head of the UNM, Nika Melia, said last week that the elections for the post would be “very comfortable” for him, providing opportunities “to sincerely speak with our supporters over a number of [problematic] questions which have accumulated over the years”.
I will do my best to reshape the party as the strongest and the most uncompromising platform in the fight against oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili [the founder of the ruling party and the former prime minister of Georgia]. I will return the party to its supporters [and] make it stronger again”, Khabeishvili pledged.
The incumbent chair of the party, Nika Melia, has also announced his plans to run for the post after criticising his party members for the unexpected calls of leadership elections.
Melia, who has held the position since 2020, claimed last week he himself had offered intra-party elections a month ago and said the members who called for the new leadership challenge had been “well aware” of his proposal. “Time will show what was the real motivation of the [unexpected] briefing”, Melia said last Wednesday.
Prior to the developments, several activists of the party had openly accused Melia of being “inactive” in his efforts to ensure the release of Saakashvili from prison, which reportedly led to a clash between the party head and its members in their Tbilisi office in late September.
Nika Melia, the head of the United National Movement opposition party on Wednesday said he was ready to re-run for the post “anytime” and slammed several of his party members for a “hasty” briefing earlier during the day that called for a leadership challenge.
Several members of the United National Movement - the largest opposition group in Georgia - on Wednesday voiced their desire for changes in party leadership, including replacement of the party’s current head Nika Melia.
Georgian law enforcers have detained one individual who allegedly shot at a banner of the United National Movement opposition party which depicts the party’s currently imprisoned leader Nika Melia.
Nika Melia will be the next chair of the United National Movement (UNM) based on the results of the opposition party polls. The UNM launched an online poll on December 21 following Grigol Vashadze’s resignation.
The United National Movement opposition party, the largest opposition group in Georgia, is “sunk in internal power struggle” instead of working for the interests of the country or the imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili, Lelo opposition MP Salome Samadashvili told Interpressnews on Tuesday.
Bacho Dolidze, a member of the United National Movement - the largest opposition party in Georgia - on Tuesday said the former Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili could be behind the recent release of illegal audio recording involving the party’s incumbent Chair Nika Melia.
Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee, on Wednesday said the ongoing struggle for the chairmanship of the opposition United National Movement party had “crossed all ethical and moral limits”, and noted the intra-party feud would “further weaken” it.
Nugzar Tsiklauri, a member of the United National Movement opposition party, on Wednesday accused Vano Merabishvili, the former Interior Minister from the party during its time in Government, of ongoing “shadowy interference” in developments in the UNM and domestic politics in general.
Nika Melia, the incumbent Chair of United National Movement, the largest opposition party in Georgia, on Monday lost the race for the position to Levan Khabeishvili, in an election that followed intra-party controversies over the recent weeks.
MPs of the Lelo opposition party on Tuesday said their party may not cooperate with the United National Movement, the largest opposition group in the country, following the recent win of Levan Khabeishvili in elections for the new Chair of the latter.