Saakashvili: UNM and European Georgia Are Family

Former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, says that the previous ruling party United National Movement (UNM) founded by him, and the parliamentary minority European Georgia, formed after the division of the UNM in 2017, are one family.

Saakashvili made the statement on November 8 in Helsinki, after meeting with one of the leaders of the European Georgia, ex-Mayor of Tbilisi, Gigi Ugulava.

The meeting took place ahead of the second round of the presidential elections in Georgia, at the congress of the European People's Party.

“European People's Party played a decisive role in creating a common platform for the European Georgia and United National Movement parties. I thanked Gigi Ugulava for the very strong position expressed by him and other leaders. This is a new political culture in Georgia,” Saakashvili said.

He noted that a new unity is being formed, “which will be much broader than the National Movement and the European Georgia.”

Zviad Kvachantiradze, member of the current ruling party Georgian Dream (GD) says UNM and the European Georgia should be ashamed of speaking about being “one family” after publicly criticizing each-other.

“I never believed that the UNM was ever divided. I always considered these two parties as one,” he added.

The UNM officially split into two after 38 Heads of UNM municipal and regional organizations, 21 MPs, and a number of council members decided to leave the party. In total, 59 members left the party in January 2017. The MPs who left the party formed European Georgia. Ugulava was one of them.

Both UNM and the European Georgia support the United Opposition presidential candidate, Grigol Vashadze, who is a member of the UNM.

By Thea Morrison