Georgia’s Opposition UNM Reduces Staff

TBILISI – The cut back on staff in Georgia’s main opposition party United National Movement (UNM) led to a disagreement among party members this week.

The information was spread by UNM member Chiora Taktakishvili, who said the reduction of staff by 20 people is not based on financial problems, but on the different views over certain issues, including the format of next month’s party congress.

“The dismissed people openly supported the large-scale congress, which would gather around 7000 UNM delegates. These people were deliberately dismissed by the “inter democratic” ruling group of the UNM,” stated Taktakishvili.

He added he is sure that the people who had lost their jobs would have done their best for the well-being of Georgia even voluntarily. Taktakishvili stressed the issue of 20-person staff reduction should have been discussed within the party before action was taken.

“Reducing everyone’s salaries would have been a solution but if the aim of the staff dismissal was to get rid of undesirable people, everything is clear, isn’t it?” he said.

Koba Khabazi, one of the 20 dismissed UNM members, also believes that if the UNM has financial problems, the issue could have been solved without the dismissal of certain members.

“I am one of the oldest members of the National Movement and cannot imagine my life without this party,” he said, but did not specify if his dismissal was based on the disagreement between party members.

One of the UNM leaders, Sergo Ratiani, explains that the reduction of staff was inevitable, as the state reduced monthly funding of the party by 100.000 GEL following the October parliamentary elections.

He rejects information that the dismissal was based on different viewpoints within the party.

“At present, 20 UNM members have been dismissed and these people have absolutely different views. Dismissal is an unpleasant fact, but we do not have additional funds,” said Ratiani.

This is not the first time the UNM members have openly contradicted each-other. The disagreement started after the first round of parliamentary elections, when some of the UNM were against taking part in the run-off.

Next came arguments over whether to enter parliament or not.

The disagreement among the party was openly confirmed by UNM member Otar Kakhidze, who recently wrote in a Facebook post that the party is divided into two: one group unequivocally supports its founder, former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, while the other is in favor of distancing him from the party leadership and electing a new Chair, providing Saakashvili’s Ukrainian citizenship as the main reason of distancing him from the leadership of the UNM.

By Thea Morrison