Parliament official: struggle for United National Movement chairmanship has “crossed all ethical and moral limits”

In his remarks over the controversial recording, Samkharadze claimed it showed UNM members were “not shying away” from “seeking compromising materials” and using them against each other. Photo: Parliament of Georgia

Agenda.ge, 11 Jan 2023 - 16:25, Tbilisi,Georgia

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.

Samkharadze was commenting on a social media release of a recording in which the party’s incumbent Chair Nika Melia was apparently heard recalling his phone conversation with Mikheil Saakashvili, the currently imprisoned former President of Georgia, ahead of the 2021 municipal elections in the country, and insulting him for his views.

In his remarks over the controversial recording, Samkharadze claimed it showed UNM members were “not shying away” from “seeking compromising materials” and using them against each other.

“We see that the struggle for the chairmanship of the party has crossed all ethical and moral limits, but that is their business and an internal conflict. These processes will further weaken this party”, he pointed out.

The purpose of this confrontation is to win the Chairman's seat [and thus gain] funding by [former UNM Defence Minister and now private TV channel owner David] Kezerashvili and the ambition of being involved in political processes of this country in the future - whether in a positive or negative fashion”, the Parliament official concluded.

Bacho Dolidze, a member of the United National Movement, on Tuesday said Vano Merabishvili, the former Interior Minister from the party during its time in Government, could be behind the release of the illegal audio recording.

Levan Khabeishvili, a fellow member of the UNM and a major competitor of Melia in the election for the position of party Chair, has accused the current Government of having released the recording, while Saakashvili and other UNM members have condemned the release as a “dirty method".