The fate of the resident: Saakashvili is abandoned in his own party

The Georgian party of Mikheil Saakashvili “United National Movement” (UNM) may split into two parts: supporters and opponents of the former president, Kommersant writes.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news on Telegram , Facebook , Odnoklassniki , or VKontakte

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube и Max.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

The publication recalls that following the results of the October parliamentary elections, the UNM suffered a crushing defeat, managing to receive only 27 out of 150 parliamentary seats, while the ruling Georgian Dream party of Bidzina Ivanishvili received a constitutional majority.

“The reaction of the UNM leaders was not long in coming. The chief manager and editor of the Tabula media holding, Tamar Chergoleishvili, openly accused the ex-president and former governor of the Odessa region of Ukraine of having “scared voters and consolidated them around Ivanishvili’s party” with his “false” statements about plans to return to power in Georgia. “Why didn’t he come back if he’s so brave?” - Mrs. Chergoleishvili asked ironically. It is noteworthy that her husband is a member of the UNM political council, former secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia Giga Bokeria,” the newspaper points out.

“Nevertheless, the UNM political council, with a margin of one vote (25 versus 24, with one abstention), nevertheless decided to leave the post of chairman vacant. In addition, the majority agreed with Mikheil Saakashvili’s proposal to hold an “expanded congress” on January 20 with the participation of 7000 people, instead of the 2100 delegates that Gigi Bockeria’s group insisted on,” Kommersant emphasizes, explaining that in this way Saakashvili wants to turn the congress into a rally , who will certainly support him.

“However, in this case the main opposition party may split completely. A number of its leaders, as well as the majority of deputies from the UNM, make it clear that they will leave Mikheil Saakashvili’s party, leaving him “along with fanatics” who live in the past and do not understand that the ex-president is dragging the party’s rating down,” the publication notes.