Will UNM elect a new chairman?

A former ruling and now the main opposition party of Georgia, ‘United National Movement’ (UNM), has accused some of its activists of spreading false information about the leaders of the party.

According to the results of the parliamentary elections, the ruling party ‘Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia’ received the constitutional majority. But after that, the  rumors about a split in the ranks of the UNM began to appear. The supporters of the former ruling party has started to talk about the need to elect a new chairman, as far as the former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, has lost the right to lead the party after the loss of the Georgian citizenship.

‘’Unfortunately, it should be noted that a part of the party activists, some groups affiliated with the party, and other active participants of the debate in the social networks have gone beyond a normal consideration and conducted a smear campaign against the party leaders. The campaign was based on lie and clear defamation of the party’s leaders,’’ a statement  of the party, issued after a meeting of the political council of the United National Movement, reads.

At the same time the party has officially denied the rumors of a collusion with the founder of the ‘Georgian Dream’, an entrepreneur and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.

‘’We strongly condemn the conspiracy theories about a collusion between the leaders of the UNM and Ivanishvili. The distributors of such slanderous accusations can not be a part of our political organization ... Today the unity of the party around the values ​​and principles is especially important for us,’’ the party statement stresses.

In addition, it was noted that the main opposition party in the country has not planned and won’t boycott the work of the Parliament of Georgia of the ninth convocation.

Earlier, an ex-Mayor of Tbilisi, Gigi Ugulava, who is currently convicted, has issued a letter, in which he stressed a necessity of the development of the party and said that  the UNM needs a new chairman. A former president of Georgia, and now a governor of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, has supported Ugulava’s initiative and offered to convene the party congress to elect a new leader,  Sputnik Georgia reports.

Recall that according to the results of the elections, the party won 27 of 150 parliamentary seats. After Saakashvili left Georgia, the UNM is headed by the political council.