Incumbent UNM Chair says predecessor “no longer” party member

Levan Khabeishvili, the Chair of United National Movement, the largest party in the domestic Georgian opposition, on Monday signed a paper during live broadcasting while claiming Nika Melia, the party’s former Chairperson, “no longer represents” the faction, but refrained from using the term “expulsion” in an ongoing controversy over the matter. 

In his comments for the domestic Formula TV channel, Khabeishvili, who defeated Melia in the chairmanship race in January after accusing him of taking no action for release of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, claimed the latter had “distanced himself” from UNM and had been engaged in a “harmful campaign” over the past eight months, also claiming “I have not dismissed him, he himself decided [to leave the party]”. 

Khabeishvili, who has been accused by Melia of being a “puppet” of former UNM officials including Vano Merabishvili and David Kezerashvili, also said he could provide “written, legal evidence” Melia was no longer a party member, but added if the former Chair “changed his wording and stance” he could be accepted in the faction again. 

The comments came following Melia’s refusal in October to become involved in a potential new board of the party and related talks, citing “informal influence” of the former UNM officials and pointing to their "reputational problems" and "outdated views” that he said were “completely distant” from the public, and claimed “victory will never come” under their “informal presence” in the party. 

In subsequent comments, Saakashvili, whose clandestine return from Ukraine and arrest in October 2021 sparked intra-party controversy, earlier this month said he was ready to chair such a council to “coordinate unity” in the opposition and “return former members” ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections, despite not having Georgian citizenship. 

Responding to the latest developments, Giorgi Baramidze, the Political Secretary of UNM, on Monday said he disapproved Melia’s “insulting” of the party, but stressed he was “categorically against” his dismissal and added he was ready to quit the post if his view turned “incompatible” with the group’s leadership. 

Murtaz Zodelava, a fellow member of the party, on Monday claimed its donors had “decided to be at the helm of the process”, which he said “harmed the party and its goals”, before slamming Khabeishvili for his move during the live broadcast on the channel co-owned by Kezerashvili, a former Defence Minister who was convicted in Georgia in absentia for embezzlement of state funds while in office.

He was also reported to be connected with an international scheme defrauding European citizens, with a BBC report saying the Panama Papers - the 11.5 million documents leaked in 2016 to show financial dealings of wealthy individuals and officials across the world - had shown the former official to be at the centre of the scheme in which operators contacted citizens with offers of investing their savings in profitable businesses before appropriating their funds.

Shortly before the publication of the report, Kezerashvili on April 3 told Formula TV channel he was funding “pro-Western groups” in the country that requested support from him.

Merabishvili, one of the most influential figures of the former UNM Government, left prison in 2020 after serving almost seven years for offences including abuse of power, and, like Kezerashvili, has not officially joined any domestic opposition group. 

Georgian Dream authorities have accused UNM and its leaders of aiming to “spark tension and unrest” in the country to retake office.