Levan Khabeishvili became the new chairman of the United National Movement party. In the internal party elections, he received 21,656 votes (52.58%) while the current chairman, Nika Melia, got 16,476 votes (40%). After the elections, Koba Nakopia, the chairman of the political council, left the position. Akaki Minashvili, political secretary of the party, Bacho Dolidze, organizational secretary, Giorgi Pataraia, head of the press service, Giorgi Kirtadze, chairman of Batumi Organization, and Ana Gogoladze, strategic development secretary also resigned.
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“I am leaving UNM political council chairman post, as well as the political council itself. I will remain only as a member of the party until Mikheil Saakashvili, Putin's personal prisoner is in prison until Mikheil Saakashvili will be transferred abroad for treatment, which is the only way to save his life. Whether I will stay at the party or not, I will make a decision later when Mikheil Saakashvili is free and I will be given the opportunity to communicate with him,” said Koba Nakopia while being on air on Mtavari TV.
“I stated previously that if Nika Melia wouldn’t win the elections, I would leave the post of head of the Batumi organization. This does not mean that I personally or any member of the party is leaving the UNM. We remain in the party for the ideals we were here for,” said Giorgi Kirtadze.
“With these elections, UNM proved that it is simply impossible to defeat it, to pull out it from the battlefield,” said Levan Khabeishvili after the victory. “We are obviously not going to celebrate. The process that will lead our country to peace begins today, as Misha and his comrades did in 2003.
This victory belongs to Mikheil Saakashvili, who is now fighting for his life, and his fight is also connected to the freedom of the country. Obviously, the first decisions will be related to the fight for President Saakashvili's freedom. Misha, I want to promise you that we will not stop until your life and health, and our country's freedom is secured.
This victory belongs to Nika Gvaramia, who proved by his example that it is impossible to make us surrender this battle. This victory also belongs to Nika and his supporters, Nona and her supporters, and Giorgi, and his tireless comrades - today I extend the hand of friendship to you. My main task is to unite in the fight against the common enemy. An uncompromising struggle is ahead of us, so it's time to get ready and switch to the main task.
I want to tell Bidzina and his marionettes that dark black clouds have gathered over their heads and the Georgian people will take this anger out on the Russian oligarch and his puppet and on the criminal regime in the near future,” said Khabeishvili.
According to Nona Mamulashvili, another candidate for the chairmanship of the party, who received 1537 votes (3.73%), money and informal influences won over politics.
“I must point out that the results of the elections don’t give me a reason to hope that there will be a process, that our country needs. Unfortunately, this was shown by the pre-election environment. I wish Levan a lot of success, he is not the problem now.
The problem is that in the big picture - money and informal influences have won out over politics. I want to believe that there won’t be a result, which is usually expected in such cases”, wrote Nona Mamulashvili.
Giorgi Mumladze, the fourth candidate for the chairmanship of the UNM party, received 1516 votes (3.68%).
Levan Khabeishvili was a candidate supported by the former Minister of Internal Affairs, Vano Merabishvili, and the former Minister of Defense, the founder of the Formula TV company, Davit Kezerashvili. Nika Melia, who was elected by the party congress for a four-year term at the end of December 2020, accused Kezerashvili-Merabishvili of trying to interfere in internal party processes and informal influences. Melia said that before the elections, Merabishvili planned to reveal the hidden audio recording against him, because “he thought that the spreading of this audio recording could influence the results of the elections”.
Melia congratulated Khabeishvili on his victory and said that he will continue to fight against the Georgian Dream party, although he will decide on his role in the party later.
Internal party elections in UNM were held electronically on January 28-30. 49,638 people registered for the elections, of which 41,264 participated in the voting. The summary report of the elections must be approved by the party congress, after which the new chairman will take office. The date of the meeting is not yet known.
