United National Movement opposition members call for change in party leadership

Several members of the United National Movement on Wednesday called for the replacement of the party’s current head Nika Melia. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge 

Agenda.ge, 09 Nov 2022 - 14:52, Tbilisi,Georgia

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. 

Irakli Nadiradze, a UNM representative in Tbilisi city assembly, told a briefing further strengthening the party required empowerment of “intra-party democracy and intra-party elections at all levels”.

He was joined in the call by party MP David Kirkitadze, who said the calls “serve the goal to make the UNM even stronger”.

However, Akaki Minashvilli, a fellow member of UNM, expressed his disapproval of the MPs’ way of voicing the initiative and called the briefing “unexpected”. "It is very sad and regrettable that such a briefing was held so unexpectedly and now”, he said in response. 

In a recent interview with Formula TV last month, Melia, who took over as the chairman in 2020, strongly dismissed rumours he could quit, following reports that he and several UNM activists had clashed in the party office in Tbilisi in September over questions related to Mikheil Saakashvili, the imprisoned ex-president of Georgia and former head of the party.

Several opposition politicians have openly accused Melia of “doing nothing” for the release of Saakashvili, who was arrested in Tbilisi last October on his return to the country, after spending eight years on positions in the Ukrainian government.