Saakashvili's party in Georgia collapsed - one of its leaders
TBILISI. Jan 10 (Interfax) - The Georgian opposition party United National Movement (UNM), which was founded by ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, has fundamental issues, Gigi Ugulava, one of the party's leaders, said.
"There is no unity in the party anymore and it is on the verge of a collapse. When people in the party do not greet each other, it means that there are fundamental issues. Moreover, the party has already collapsed and each of us is responsible for this process," Ugulava told reporters on Tuesday.
At the same time, he has not yet confirmed that the official split of the party into two independent entities, supporters of Saakashvili and supporters of the leaders of the party calling for the election of the new UNM chairman and suspension of the Ukrainian citizen Saakashvili from the party activity in Georgia, will happen before January 20.
According to the Georgian media, a group of UNM leaders will make a statement on their withdrawal from the party on January 12.
Following the UNM's loss in the parliamentary election in October 2016, the party's informal leader Saakashvili accused the group of heads of failure and called for holding a congress in January for the purpose of reserving the post of UNM chairman and clearing the party of "renegades and traitors."